Previously dependent on Europe for scientific knowledge, the United States came into its own during the nineteenth century. A prime example of this is evident in the establishment of the Cincinnati Observatory, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Funded by the citizenry of that city, it was initiated, with ceremony, by the oration by former President John Quincy Adams, at the laying of the cornerstone in 1843.In this book, you will read about the Cincinnati Observatory's most notable contribution...

Winner of the AAS 2019 Donald E. Osterbrock Book Prize for Historical AstronomyGrabbing the attention of poets, politicians and the general public alike, a series of spectacular astronomical events in the late 1800s galvanized Americans to take a greater interest in astronomy than ever before. At a time when the sciences were not yet as well established in the United States as they were in Europe, this public interest and support provided the growing scientific com...

TV and movies will have you believing that black holes are huge holes in space and anything that falls into them is lost for all time – possibly falling into another universe or another time, or even falling forever.You may think that black holes run around in space like huge vacuum cleaners sucking up everything in their path. This is not true.But what actually is a black hole and what do they do? This book will help you find out.LearningIsland.com believes in the v...

Shocking evidence that alien implants are real...as told by the doctor who removed them!Alien implants. The objects are real. The facts.are indisputable. But where did they come from?*A defense worker experiences bizarre radiolike noises coming from inside his jaw. Dental X rays reveal a small triangular object of unknown origin....*A woman witnesses a UFO one night in the San Fernando Valley. Ever since, she has carried a small, unidentifiable object implanted in h...

“A fascinating tale. . . . Readers who are into high-altitude adventure stories won’t be disappointed.”—Associated PressIn 1939 the Savage Mountain claimed its first victim. Born into vast wealth yet uneasy with a life of leisure, Dudley Wolfe, of Boston and Rockport, Maine, set out to become the first man to climb K2, the world’s second-highest mountain and, in the opinion of mountaineers, an even more formidable challenge than Mt. Everest. Although close to middle age an...

Want to build your own satellite and launch it into space? It’s easier than you may think. The first in a series of four books, this do-it-yourself guide shows you the essential steps needed to design a base picosatellite platform—complete with a solar-powered computer-controlled assembly—tough enough to withstand a rocket launch and survive in orbit for three months.Whether you want to conduct scientific experiments, run engineering tests, or present an orbital art project, you’ll...

A step-by-step guide to knowing the night sky. Find northern hemisphere constellations easily by starting small and expanding your knowledge. This guide is meant to be taken outside! Read the instructions, and follow along with the stars. The only equipment necessary: your eyes and a clear night. Each lesson builds on knowledge learned in previous lessons, and students of the stars will become comfortable and confident in their ability to identify northern hemisphere conste...

Spherical trigonometry was at the heart of astronomy and ocean-going navigation for two millennia. The discipline was a mainstay of mathematics education for centuries, and it was a standard subject in high schools until the 1950s. Today, however, it is rarely taught. Heavenly Mathematics traces the rich history of this forgotten art, revealing how the cultures of classical Greece, medieval Islam, and the modern West used spherical trigonometry to chart the heavens and the Earth. ...

Aristarchus of Samos (also known as Aristarchos) lived between 310 and 230 B.C. He was a mathematician and astronomer, and was the first to suggest the heliocentric model of the universe. His only surviving work, On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon, discusses this model.

The Sun is merely one of some 200 billion stars that make up the Milky Way--and the Milky Way is only one of a billion galaxies in the known universe. Packed with fascinating facts and stunning photography, this book examines the Galaxy humans call home and travels light years away, to the domain of phenomena such as the Oort cloud.

(science article)As you get to know your stellar neighborhood, you will find some bizarre and fascinating stars, planets and other strange things. Each one has its own personality, and we are starting to learn more about them, individually.One of the first things you will notice is that more than two-thirds of the known nearby stars are red dwarfs (not dwarves!). These stars are much smaller, cooler and dimmer than Sol (our Sun). In fact, they are only red hot, which is pret...

In The Sun, David Whitehouse takes us on a journey to the heart of our local star and beyond, relating how it was born, the many ways it influences life on Earth and how it will die. He recounts the many myths surrounding the Sun and the fascinating stories of scientists throughout history who have attempted to discover its secrets - occasionally at the price of their lives.The Sun explores the role of the sun for those on Earth, from the earliest civilizations tha...