How We See the Sky: A Naked-Eye Tour of Day and Night

251 Pages·2011·2.08 MB·English

by  Thomas Hockey

HOW WE SEE THE SKY

HOW WE SEE THE SKY
A Naked- Eye Tour of Day & Night
thomas hockey
The University of Chicago Press :: chicago & london
thomas hockey is professor of astronomy at the University of Northern Iowa.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2011 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2011.
Printed in the United States of America
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5
isbn- 13: 978-0-226-34576-5 (cloth)
isbn- 13: 978-0-226-34577-2 (paper)
isbn- 10: 0-226-34576-9 (cloth)
isbn- 10: 0-226-34577-7 (paper)
Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data
Hockey, Thomas A.
How we see the sky : a naked- eye tour of day and night / Thomas Hockey.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN- 13: 978-0-226-34576-5 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN- 10: 0-226-34576-9 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN- 13: 978-0-226-34577-2 (pbk.: alk. paper)
ISBN- 10: 0-226-34577-7 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Astronomy—Popular works. I. Title.
QB44.3.H635 2011
520—dc22
2011003355
o This paper meets the requirements of ansi/ niso z39.48-1992
(Permanence of Paper).
To Yuliana

contents
Preface ix
Introduction 1
1 Bowl of Night 5
2 This Big Ol’ Wheel Keeps Rolling 21
3 A Globe of Stars 41
4 Of Precession, Planispheres, and Patience 59
5 The King of Day 77
6 Solstices, Equinoxes, and More 97
7 Around the World with the Sun 117
8 Many Moons 133
9 Living Month to Month 151
10 Facing Up to the Moon (and the Sun, Too) 167
11 Eclipses 181
12 Placing Planets 199
Notes 223
Recommended Reading 227
Index 229

preface
The goal of this book is to explain the n aked- eye astronomical universe
from a point of view on the earth’s surface. The emphasis is upon per-
sonal experience. (I restrict myself to astronomical phenomena; sky phe-
nomena would include meteorological topics.) A secondary theme is to
illustrate some of the ways in which the appearance of the heavens has
infl uenced human civilization.
This is not a “guide to the night sky.” Just as a fi eld guide to birds
would describe different avian species, and where and when to fi nd them,
a fi eld guide to the astronomical sky would describe stellar constellations,
and where and when to look for them. On the other hand, a “bird book”
would defi ne birds in general, compare and contrast them, and illuminate
their behavior. It is this latter format that I try to emulate. Other works
(sadly, no longer in print) have attempted to do what I do, but the distin-
guishing feature of my book is the tie-in with cultural interpretations and
practices.
Although virtually all introductory astronomy textbooks cover things
that can be observed in the sky without aid, they often do so in abbrevi-
ated fashion and with little relation to the historical or societal aspects of
these topics. In fact, it is accurate to say that all the subjects in this book
may be condensed into twenty pages or less within a traditional astron-
omy textbook.
My introduction is intended to provide a motivation for what fol-
lows. The fi rst four chapters discuss the most plentiful objects in the
night sky—the stars. The apparent motions of the stars are the simplest
of those seen in the sky. I follow with three chapters on that singularly
most important celestial orb: the sun, and its more complicated appar-
ix