Night Has a Thousand Eyes: A Naked-Eye Guide to the Sky, Its Science, and Lore

by Arthur R. Upgren

Overview

Filled with science and lore, with references to myths, legends, and "high" and popular culture, this "naked-eye" guide (no telescope required) demystifies the celestial in accessible, instructive, and entertaining prose. If you want to know why werewolves only come out at night or how to find Betelgeuse, if you are curious about twilight, the seasons and their causes, our solar system, light and darkness, weather, stars and latitude, the moon, light pollution, and the planets, this is the book for you. Illustrated throughout with photographs, sky charts, and diagrams, Night Has a Thousand Eyes is the perfect resource for amateur astronomers and meteorologists of all ages - city, suburban, and country folk alike - who pause to enjoy sunsets and identify constellations on a starry night.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306457906
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	01/01/1998
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1998
Pages:	301
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.04(d)
Lexile:	1280L (what's this?)

About the Author

Arthur Upgren is Professor of Astronomy at Wesleyan University and has been director of its Van Vleck Observatory. He is the author of Night Has a Thousand Eyes: A Naked-Eye Guide to the Sky, Its Science, and Lore.Jurgen Stock has been on the faculty of Hamburg and Case-Western Reserve Universities. He has also been director of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory at La Serena, Chile, as well as founding director of CIDA, the Venezuelan National Observatory at Mérida.

Editorial Reviews

Less a practical guide than an informative, inspirational look into the night sky, this books begins with a survey of the visible stars and constellations through each of the seasons. Upgren, an astronomer at Yale University, follows with discussions of the visible and invisible objects in the solar system, light pollution, and other atmospheric particulars, plus the progression of cosmological models and calendars based on celestial observation since ancient times. Always accessible, the book balances its scientific content with appropriate cultural, historical, and mythological details. A good introduction for those wanting more background to their night viewing, it would work well in conjunction with a source featuring fully illustrated sky charts, such as David Levy's Skywatching (LJ 10/15/95). Recommended for public libraries.--Patrick Dunn, Spokane

Library Journal

Erudite, entertaining, and educational, this is an excellent introduction to astronomy at its most basic level, that of simple stargazing. Upgren (astronomy, Yale, Wesleyan) enriches his discussion of constellations with reference to myths, historical stories, and works of art and literature related to them. Individual chapters cover the arrangement of the stars in each of the four seasons, as well as the moon and the planets. Additional chapters discuss such topics as astrology; the possibility of extraterrestrial life; and Stonehenge and a tower in Newport, Rhode Island, possibly built by early Viking explorers as a similar astronomical tool. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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