In 2017, over 200 million Americans witnessed the spectacular total eclipse of the Sun, and the 2024 eclipse is expected to draw even larger crowds. In anticipation of this upcoming event, this book takes us back in history over 150 years, telling the story of the nation's first ever eclipse chasers.
Our tale follows the chaotic journeys of scientists and amateur astronomers as they trekked across the western United States to view the rare phenomenon of a total solar eclipse. The fascinating story centers on the expeditions of the 1869 total eclipse, which took place during the turbulent age of the chimerical Planet Vulcan and Civil War Reconstruction.
The protagonists-a motley crew featuring astronomical giants like Simon Newcomb and pioneering female astronomers like Maria Mitchell-were met with unanticipated dangers, mission-threatening accidents, and eccentric characters only the West could produce. Theirs is a story of astronomical proportions. Along the way, we will make several stops across the booming US railroad network, traveling from viewing sites as familiar as Des Moines, Iowa, to ones as distant and strange as newly acquired Alaska.
From equipment failures and botched preparations to quicksand and apocalyptic 'comets', welcome to the wild, western world of solar eclipses.
Produkt-Info
Reihe
Auflage
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Springer International Publishing
Zielgruppe
Illustrationen
3
70 farbige Tabellen, 102 farbige Abbildungen, 3 s/w Abbildungen
XVIII, 443 p. 105 illus., 102 illus. in color.
Maße
Höhe: 240 mm
Breite: 168 mm
Dicke: 19 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-3-031-24123-9 (9783031241239)
DOI
10.1007/978-3-031-24124-6
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Thomas Hockey received his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned a PhD as New Mexico State University's first-ever graduate in Astronomy and the History of Astronomy. He is the author or editor of ten books, including the award-winning Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers (Springer).
Hockey is a veteran of eight total solar eclipses. He lives between the past and future: His house is on the path of 1869's rare, transcontinental, total eclipse, and he looks forward to taking his students to the path of the similar solar eclipse of 2024.
