Weird Astronomy: Tales of Unusual, Bizarre, and Other Hard to Explain Observations (Astronomers' Universe)

You go out for a night's observing and look up at the sky. There are all the usual suspects--a splattering of stars, the Moon, Venus, maybe Mercury and Mars. Perhaps you can identify some of the constellations. If you are using binoculars or a small telescope, you can see many wonders not revealed to the naked eye but still well known to telescope users for centuries. But what if you look up and see something completely new, something unexplainable. Do your eyes deceive you? Are you really seeing what you think you are seeing? What should you do? In this fascinating account of the many oddball things people - from novice astronomers to certified experts - have observed over the years, you will be introduced to a number of unusual - and sometimes still unexplainable - phenomena occurring in our usually familiar and reassuring skies. What exactly did they see? What discoveries followed these unusual sightings? What remains unexplained? In addition to the accounts, you will find scattered throughout the book a number of suggested astronomy projects that you can do yourself. The projects range from very basic to a bit more challenging, but all are fun and all are very instructive about unusual sightings. Be sure to try them! Weird Astronomy appeals to all who are interested in unusual celestial phenomena, whether they be amateur or professional astronomers or science buffs who just enjoy reading of odd coincidences, unexplained observations, and reports from space probes that "don’t quite fit." This book relates a variety of "unusual" astronomical observations – unusual in the sense of refusing to fit easily into accepted thinking, or unusual in the observation having been made under difficult or extreme circumstances. Although some of the topics covered are instances of "bad astronomy," most are not. Some of the observations recorded here have actually turned out to be important scientific breakthroughs. Included are some amusing anecdotes (such as the incident involving "potassium flares" in ordinary stars and the story of Abba 1, the solar system’s own flare star!), but the book’s purpose is not to ridicule those who report anomalous observations, nor is it to challenge scientific orthodoxy. It is more to demonstrate how what's "weird" often turns out to be far more significant than observations of what we expect to see. Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Our Weird Moon....Pages 1-39 Odd but Interesting Events Near the Sun....Pages 41-74 Planetary Weirdness....Pages 75-133 Weird Meteors....Pages 135-161 Strange Stars and Star-Like Objects....Pages 163-197 Moving Mysteries and Wandering Stars....Pages 199-219 Facts, Fallacies, Unusual Observations, and Other Miscellaneous Gleanings....Pages 221-282 Back Matter....Pages 283-304 You go out for a nights observing and look up at the sky. There are all the usual suspects a splattering of stars, the Moon, Venus, maybe Mercury and Mars Perhaps you can identity some of the constellations. If you are using binoculars of a small telescope, you can see many wonders not revealed to the naked eve but still well known to telescope users for centuries In addition to the accounts, you will find scattered throughout the book a number of suggested astronomy protects that you can do yourself. The protects range from very basic to a bit more challenging, but all are fun and all are very instructive about unusual sightings. Be sure to try them. --Résumé de l'éditeur In addition to the accounts, you will find scattered throughout the book a number of suggested astronomy protects that you can do yourself. The protects range from very basic to a bit more challenging, but all are fun and all are very instructive about unusual sightings. Be sure to try them. --Book Jacket