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Many Skies : Alternative Histories of the Sun, Moon, Planets, and Stars / Arthur Upgren.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New Brunswick, NJ : Rutgers University Press, [2005]Copyright date: ©2012Description: 1 online resource (212 p.) : 19Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780813553566
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 523.2
LOC classification:
  • QB502 .U64 2012
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- I. THE SUN AND THE MOON -- 1. OUR THREE MOONS -- 2. WITHIN A TRIPLE STAR -- 3. OUR BACKWARD STELLAR MAGNITUDE SYSTEM -- 4. AN IMPROPER PROPER MOTION -- 5. ALL OUR YESTERDAYS -- 6. WE ARE ALONE -- II. THE PLANETS -- 7. THE RINGS OF EARTH -- 8. NEXT DOOR TO A GIANT -- 9. DOUBLE PLANET -- 10. DEBRIS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM -- 11. SEASONS OF PARADOX -- 12. MORE THAN ONE PLUTO -- III. THE STARS -- 13. WHAT IF THE SUN WERE RED? OR BLUE? -- 14. THE VERNAL EQUINOX LIES IN VIRGO -- 15. VEGA AND DENEB CHANGE PLACES -- 16. THE PLEIADES STAR CLUSTER IS AS CLOSE AS THE HYADES -- 17. THE GREAT POPCORN BALLS -- 18. THE MILKY WAY LIES ALONG OUR EQUATOR -- 19 WE ARE ALONE II -- IV HOMEMADE SKIES -- 20 RING OF RUBBISH -- 21 THE TANGLED SKEIN OF CELESTIAL MECHANICS -- 22 A SECOND CHANCE -- 23 CHICXULUB, THE WORST SKY OF ALL -- PERSONAL NOTE -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX -- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Summary: What if Earth had several moons or massive rings like Saturn? What if the Sun were but one star in a double-star or triple-star system? What if Earth were the only planet circling the Sun? These and other imaginative scenarios are the subject of Arthur Upgren's inventive book Many Skies: Alternative Histories of the Sun, Moon, Planets, and Stars. Although the night sky as we know it seems eternal and inevitable, Upgren reminds us that, just as easily, it could have been very different. Had the solar sytem happened to be in the midst of a star cluster, we might have many more bright stars in the sky. Yet had it been located beyond the edge of the Milky Way galaxy, we might have no stars at all. If Venus or Mars had a moon as large as ours, we would be able to view it easily with the unaided eye. Given these or other alternative skies, what might Ptolemy or Copernicus have concluded about the center of the solar sytem and the Sun? This book not only examines the changes in science that these alternative solar, stellar, and galactic arrangements would have brought, it also explores the different theologies, astrologies, and methods of tracking time that would have developed to reflect them. Our perception of our surroundings, the number of gods we worship, the symbols we use in art and literature, even the way we form nations and empires are all closely tied to our particular (and accidental) placement in the universe. Many Skies, however, is not merely a fanciful play on what might have been. Upgren also explores the actual ways that human interferences such as light pollution are changing the night sky. Our atmosphere, he warns, will appear very different if we have belt of debris circling the globe and blotting out the stars, as will happen if advertisers one day pollute space with brilliant satellites displaying their products. From fanciful to foreboding, the scenarios in Many Skies will both delight and inspire reflection, reminding us that ours is but one of many worldviews based on our experience of a universe that is as much a product of accident as it is of intention.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780813553566

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- I. THE SUN AND THE MOON -- 1. OUR THREE MOONS -- 2. WITHIN A TRIPLE STAR -- 3. OUR BACKWARD STELLAR MAGNITUDE SYSTEM -- 4. AN IMPROPER PROPER MOTION -- 5. ALL OUR YESTERDAYS -- 6. WE ARE ALONE -- II. THE PLANETS -- 7. THE RINGS OF EARTH -- 8. NEXT DOOR TO A GIANT -- 9. DOUBLE PLANET -- 10. DEBRIS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM -- 11. SEASONS OF PARADOX -- 12. MORE THAN ONE PLUTO -- III. THE STARS -- 13. WHAT IF THE SUN WERE RED? OR BLUE? -- 14. THE VERNAL EQUINOX LIES IN VIRGO -- 15. VEGA AND DENEB CHANGE PLACES -- 16. THE PLEIADES STAR CLUSTER IS AS CLOSE AS THE HYADES -- 17. THE GREAT POPCORN BALLS -- 18. THE MILKY WAY LIES ALONG OUR EQUATOR -- 19 WE ARE ALONE II -- IV HOMEMADE SKIES -- 20 RING OF RUBBISH -- 21 THE TANGLED SKEIN OF CELESTIAL MECHANICS -- 22 A SECOND CHANCE -- 23 CHICXULUB, THE WORST SKY OF ALL -- PERSONAL NOTE -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX -- ABOUT THE AUTHOR

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

What if Earth had several moons or massive rings like Saturn? What if the Sun were but one star in a double-star or triple-star system? What if Earth were the only planet circling the Sun? These and other imaginative scenarios are the subject of Arthur Upgren's inventive book Many Skies: Alternative Histories of the Sun, Moon, Planets, and Stars. Although the night sky as we know it seems eternal and inevitable, Upgren reminds us that, just as easily, it could have been very different. Had the solar sytem happened to be in the midst of a star cluster, we might have many more bright stars in the sky. Yet had it been located beyond the edge of the Milky Way galaxy, we might have no stars at all. If Venus or Mars had a moon as large as ours, we would be able to view it easily with the unaided eye. Given these or other alternative skies, what might Ptolemy or Copernicus have concluded about the center of the solar sytem and the Sun? This book not only examines the changes in science that these alternative solar, stellar, and galactic arrangements would have brought, it also explores the different theologies, astrologies, and methods of tracking time that would have developed to reflect them. Our perception of our surroundings, the number of gods we worship, the symbols we use in art and literature, even the way we form nations and empires are all closely tied to our particular (and accidental) placement in the universe. Many Skies, however, is not merely a fanciful play on what might have been. Upgren also explores the actual ways that human interferences such as light pollution are changing the night sky. Our atmosphere, he warns, will appear very different if we have belt of debris circling the globe and blotting out the stars, as will happen if advertisers one day pollute space with brilliant satellites displaying their products. From fanciful to foreboding, the scenarios in Many Skies will both delight and inspire reflection, reminding us that ours is but one of many worldviews based on our experience of a universe that is as much a product of accident as it is of intention.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 02. Jun 2024)