Galileo's Planet: Observing Jupiter Before Photography

ISBN-13: 9780750304481 / Angielski / Twarda / 1998 / 236 str.

Thomas A. Hockey; T. A. Hockey

Opis

Since earliest times, one of the brightest lights in the heavens has been Jupiter, mythical king of the gods and the largest planet in the solar system. It was only natural that people from the dawn of history would be interested in such a planet and indeed, Jupiter was one of the first objects to be observed with the telescope. Even today Jupiter captures the public imagination: a vast gaseous world, home to violent storms, which have raged for centuries.

Recenzje

"Hockey, an astronomer with well-developed historical sensitivities, surveys in this volume observational investigations of Jupiter from antiquity until the time, around 1880, when photography fundamentally altered how astronomers viewed the planets. He has a story very worth telling. His account should simultaneously satisfy astronomers seeking information on telescopic reports of changes on Jupiter and also historians of science searching for an accessible narration that does justice to the broad context of such observations."
-Journal for the History of Astronomy, Vol. 31 (2000)

Spis treści

Introduction
The Planetary Observers
Instruments and Observatories
Observing Jupiter before the Yelescope
The Seventeenth Century
The Eighteenth Century
The Nineteenth Century: Prior to 1850
1850-1878
The Discovery of the Great Red Spot
1882-1900
Theories of Jupiter
The Satellites of Jupiter
Conclusion
Glossary

O autorze

Thomas A Hockey