Many Skies: Alternative Histories of the Sun, Moon, Planets, and Stars

Index

Aquarius, 121–123 Aquila, 125 Arabian Peninsula, 12 Arabic culture, 48, 50, 62, 63 Arctic, 72, 100, 170 Arcturus, 31, 36, 40, 43, 54, 124, 125, 144 Argo Navis, 144 Aries, 121, 122 Aristarchus of Samos, 19–23, 43, 46, 77 Aristophanes, 47 Aristotle, 1, 12, 19, 22, 40, 49–51, 53, 62, 63, 76, 83–87, 89, 98, 149, 159 Arizona, 95 Asia Minor, 19 Artemis, 8–15, 16 Asimov, Isaac, 33 associations, stellar, 129 Astarte, 8, 10 –12, 14 astrology, 48, 52, 53, 84, 120 –122, 149 Astronomical Unit (AU), 24, 42, 53, 76, 93, 106, 107, 136, 137, 139, 181 Astrophysical Journal Letters, 106 Athens, Greece, 12, 19, 22, 60. See also Greece, ancient Atlantis, 123, 124 Aten, 181 Aton, 34 Augustine of Hippo, 47, 63 aurora, 145; Aurora Borealis, Aurora Australis, 52 Austen, Jane, 51 Australia, 165, 177 autumnal equinox, 122, 123 191 aberration of starlight, 53, 149 Abraham, 174 absolute magnitude, 38 Achernar, 36 –37, 113 aether, 21 Age of Aquarius, 122 air pollution, 170 albedo, 9, 13, 15, 16, 32, 105, 155, 158 Aldebaran, 31, 131 Alderamin, 119 Alexander, 4, 19, 20, 122 Alexandria, Egypt, 19, 22, 35, 45– 47, 77; library at, 21, 45, 46 Almagest (Ptolemy), 47, 48, 84 alphabet, 2 Alpha Centauri A, B, 18, 24, 36, 44, 106, 107, 115, 116, 133, 137, 183 Altair, 125, 126, 144 aluminum, 74 Alvarez, Luis, 177, 180, 182 Alvarez, Walter, 177, 180, 182 Amazon River basin, 170 Amenhotep IV (Ikhnaton), 34 America. See United States Americas, the, 165, 179 American Association for the Advancement of Science, 164 Amor, 181 Amsterdam, Holland, 164 Andromeda (constellation), 150 Andromeda galaxy (Messier 31), 135, 147, 148 angular momentum, 16, 17 Antarctic, 72, 100, 170, 177, 179 Antares, 37, 120, 126, 127, 133, 140 Antoninus Pius, emperor, 47 INDEX Babylonia, 19, 21, 22, 49 Bacon, Roger, 50 Barnard’s Star, 113 Barringer meteor crater, 176 Barzun, Jacques, 34 basalt, 92 Bay of Fundy, 15 Bede, the Venerable, 49, 60, 61 Beethoven, Ludwig von, 51 Bessel, Friedrich Wilhelm, 42, 44, 114, 149 Beta Centauri, 113, 133 Betelgeuse, 36, 111, 120, 126, 132, 140 Bible, 22, 86. See also Genesis Big Bang, 113–114 Big Dipper (Ursa Major), 37, 98, 123, 124, 130 –133, 138, 144, 149 Bode, Johann, 90 Bode-Titius law, 90, 91 Bonaparte, Napoleon, 1, 4, 122 Bonestell, Chesley, 69, 70, 71, 136 Bradley, James, 149 Brown, M. E., 106 brown dwarfs, 113 Bruno, Giordano, 78, 86 Bunyan, John, 171 Caesar, Julius, 61, 122 calcium, 179 calculus, 55, 160 canals of Mars, 82 Cancer, 48, 121, 122 Canis Major, 144 Canis Minor, 144 Canopus, 18, 36, 37, 40, 127, 128, 145 Capella, 36, 144 Cape of Good Hope, 171 Capricorn, 48, 121, 122 carbon, 74 carbonaceous chondrite, 91 carbon dioxide, 80, 81, 162, 166, 167 Cartesian coordinates, 141 Cassiopeia, 37, 85, 119, 132, 144, 149 Castor and Pollux, 144 cataracts, 128 catastrophism, 177, 180 Catholic Church. See Christianity celestial equator, 13, 97, 98, 122, 143, 144 celestial mechanics, 24, 33, 54, 117, 150, 159, 160 celestial sphere, 143 Celsius scale, 112 Centaurus, 133, 144 center of gravity (barycenter), 25, 55, 172, 173 Cepheus, 119 Ceres, 37, 90 –93, 104, 105 chaos theory, 3 Charon, 7, 104, 105 Chicago, Ill., 134 Chicxulub, 175, 177, 178 China, 51, 150, 165 Christianity, and astronomy, 22, 49, 59– 62, 77, 78, 83, 84, 86. See also Gregorian calendar Chronos, 24 Church at Auvers-sur-Oise, The (van Gogh), 28 Cinquefoil, 134 circadian rhythm, 30, 126, 133, 155 Civil War, U.S., 1, 50 Clark, Alvan, 114 Cold War, 178 comets, 88, 89, 94, 105, 106, 177, 181, 182 Comins, Neil F., 2 Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage (CIE), 157 Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), 157 Concorde, 27 Congress, U.S., 143, 157 Constantine, emperor, 47 Constitutional Convention, U.S., 1 Copernicus, Nicolaus, 2, 3, 19, 21, 40, 44, 47– 49, 53, 60 – 62, 76 –78, 84, 85, 86, 139, 143 Coriolis effect, 166 Crab Nebula, 127, 147 Cretaceous Period, 92, 169 Crux (Southern Cross), 133, 144 Cygnus, 44, 125, 126 Cytheria, 170 Dante Alighieri, 50, 62 Dark Ages, 60, 78 Darwin, Charles, 177 INDEX 192 Davies, John, 104 Dechend, Hertha von, 123 declination, 120 Decline of the West, The (Spengler), 122 Deimos, 10 Deneb, 37, 40, 119, 125–127, 144 De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestum (Copernicus), 84 Descartes, René, 141 Dickens, Charles, 51 Distant Mirror, A (Tuchman), 50 DNA, 167...