History & Culture
astronomy threads through global history
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From the Archives: An Interview with Carl Sagan
In a series of articles published in Mercury during the 1970s, the then-editor interviewed some of the most-known researchers in astronomy. This is one of those interviews.
Column: Our Island Universe: History’s Most Profound Total Solar Eclipses
Eclipses are an opportunity to do clever scientific research that can yield profound consequences about our understanding of the cosmos. Perhaps the most famous example was in 1919.
Book Review: Our Debt to the Moon
A new book takes the reader through the connections between the Moon and our planet’s earliest era, modern-day life, and everything in between.
Feature: How Amateur Astronomy Has Evolved
Amateur astronomy has changed drastically over the past couple hundred years, but it’s always encouraged people to look up.
Column: Our Island Universe: Two Small Pieces of Glass Ushered in a Revolution in Science
In January 1610, Galileo Galilei made a series of observations that would forever change how humanity views the cosmos.
News: Hipparchus Star Catalog Found
Several passages of the long-lost and oldest-rumored star catalog has been found. The discovery not only confirms the catalog, created by ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus, existed, but also shows those stars’ positions were more accurate than a catalog created many centuries later.
Feature: The Dendera Zodiacs are a Rorschach Test
Many have tried to interpret the astronomical significance in these two Egyptian engravings of the cosmos.
Column: Annals of Astronomy: Discovery of the Sun’s Rotation
Observations of sunspots were integral in understanding the rotation of our star.
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