Abell, George, 351
Abul Wala, 57
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 147
Académie Royale d’Architecture, 147–8
Académie Royale des Sciences, 147–8, 149–50
active optics, 321
Adams, John Couch, 192–3
adaptive optics, 321
Adelard of Bath, 65–6
al-Birini, 57–8
al-Hakim, Caliph, 59
Al Sufi Abd al-Rahman (Azophi), 56–7
Alexander the Great, 24
Alexandria (Egypt), 24, 36, 37–8, 53
Lighthouse, 35
Alhazen, 58–9
Allen Telescope Array, 274–5
amateur astronomers: role, 325
Andromeda Galaxy, 57, 233–4, 237–8
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 68
angular measurement: origin of degrees and minutes, 18
Antikythera instrument, 51–2
Apollo missions, 306–7
Apollonius of Perga, 45, 48, 62, 93
Arabian and Persian astronomy, 53–66
arc of the meridian, 159
Archimedes, 98
Aristarchus, 25–31
Armstrong, Neil, 306–7
Arrest, Heinrich Louis d,’ 193
Arzachel, 59–60
astrolabes, 51–2, 54–5, 60, 70–1, 162
Arab, 57–8
beginnings, 12
in Renaissance, 72, 73, 82–3, 84, 87, 88, 94–5
astrophotography, 203–5
atmospheric refraction, 34
atomic weapons, 225–6
Augustus, Roman emperor, 42
Azophi see Al Sufi Abd al-Rahman
Aztecs, 13–14
Babbage, Charles, 188
Babylonians, 18–20
Barberini, Cardinal see Urban VIII, Pope
Barrow, Isaac, 135
Bell, Jocelyn, 261–3
Ben Sabbah, 60–1
Bessel, Friedrich W., 200
Besso, Michele, 211
Betelgeuse, 252–3
Big Bang
and black holes, 302
Hubble’s contribution, 240–1
origins of theory, 222
overview, 326–39
and singularities, 299
situation, 289
black holes
first suggestion of existence, 155–6
overview, 269–73, 276–9, 298–303
supermassive, 352–3
theory universe is contained inside, 287–9
Bohr, Niels, 248–9
Brahe, Tycho, 81–8, 90, 95, 116, 258
Brown, Michael, 318
brown dwarfs, 349
Brunowski, Johann, 91
Burbidge, Geoffrey, 298
Burbidge, Margaret, 298
Byzantines, 52–3
Caccini, Tommaso, 103
tensor calculus, 224
calendars
ancient, 13–14
Arab, 61
Babylonian, 18–20
Chinese, 49–50
Egyptian, 20–1
Julian, 41–2
Sumerian, 17–18
Cambridge University, 112–14, 129–30, 135, 261–2, 292–3
Camden, William, 110
Canopus, 33–4
Cassini, Gian-Domenico, 151–2, 158
Cassini, Jacques, 159
Cassini, Jean-Dominique, comte de, 160
Cassini de Thury (Cassini III), 159–60
Cassini division, 158–9
Castelli, Benedetto, 104
Centurion (ship), 173
Cepheid variables, 230–1, 237–8, 341
Ceres, 318
CERN, 333
Chaldeans, 33
Challis, James, 192–3
Chandra Observatory and Telescope, 322, 324
Chandrasekhar, Subrahmanyan, 256, 324
Charles II, king of Great Britain and Ireland, 165
Charon, 318
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 70–1
Cheever, Ezekiel, 114
chemical compounds: notation system, 198
Chinese astronomy, 12, 49–50, 258
Christian IV, king of Denmark, 87
Chwolson, Orest, 223
El Cid, 65
clocks and watches
17th-century manufacture, 111
at Greenwich, 167
radium clocks, 249
regulation by pendulum, 96–7, 99
shipboard, 172–6
CMB (cosmic microwave background), 327–30, 335–6, 339
Colbert, Jean-Baptiste, 147, 151
collimators, 322
Columbus, Christopher, 162
comets
and amateur astronomers, 325
discovered by SOHO, 323
Halley’s, 68–9
Helvelius’ observations, 126–7
Kuiper Belt, 319
mentions in Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 68
Oort Cloud, 319
supposed influence on life on Earth, 11, 49
Tempel 1’s contrived collision with spacecraft, 324–5
compasses, 194
Compton Telescope, 322
Cook, Captain James, 176–7
Copernicus, Nicolaus influence, 83, 91, 96–7, 104, 116
influences on, 60
overview, 71–80
Cosmic Background Explorer, 329
cosmic microwave background see CMB
cosmological constant, 221–2, 355–6
cosmology
ancient Greek, 23, 25–31, 37, 44–9
Arab, 56
Babylonian, 19–20
Copernican, 71–80
Galileo’s support for Copernican, 104–8
Crab Nebula, 263
Crabtree, William, 95, 116, 118, 119, 121–2
cubic equations, 62
Curtis, Heber, 233–4
Cygnus X-1, 273
Dalton, John, 198
dark matter, 340, 348–51, 352–3
Darwin, Charles, 201–2
Davy, Sir Humphrey, 196
Dawn Mission probe, 318
Deep Impact spacecraft, 324–5
deferents and epicycles system, 44–5
Deptford, HMS, 174
Desargues, Girard, 149
Descartes, René, 148, 149, 150
Dicke, Robert, 328
Digges, Captain Dudley, 174–5
dimensions: fourth, 283–6
Din Malik Shah, sultan of Jalal, 61
Discovery space shuttle, 319
Doppler, Christian, 232
Doppler effect, 232
Draper, Henry, 204
Draper, John, 204
dwarf planets, 318
E = mc2, 221, 226, 247, 252, 338, 355
Earnshaw, Thomas, 176
Earth
age, 201–3
Arab cosmological theories, 56
Copernican cosmology, 71–80, 104–8
craters, 363
early cosmological theories, 13, 19–20, 23, 25–31, 37, 44–9
death, 253
escape velocity, 270–1
formation, 358–61
and formation of the Moon, 361–3
rotation cycles, 40
shape, 159
Easter, calculating date, 74
eclipses, lunar
ancients’ knowledge, 26, 28, 39–40, 44, 47
and longitude calculation, 163
supposed influence on life on Earth, 82
eclipses, solar
ancients’ knowledge, 5–7, 23, 25–6, 37–8, 44, 47
and longitude calculation, 163
mentions in Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 68
Eddington, Sir Arthur, 220, 223, 252, 341
Einstein, Albert, 136, 209–27, 232
Einstein, Eduard, 211
Einstein, Elsa, 225
Einstein, Hans Albert, 211
Einstein, Mileva, 211
Einstein Cross, 223–4
Einstein Ring, 223
electricity, 194–7
nuclear-generated, 251
electromagnetism, 224, 333, 337
electrons, 248
Electroweak Era, 337
elements
discovery, 198–9
formation, 253, 254, 256–7, 265–9, 297–8
epicycles see deferents and epicycles system
equinoxes, precession of, 40, 42, 47
equivalence, principle of, 217–21
Eratosthenes, 31–2
Eris, 318
escape velocities, 155–6, 270–1
ether, 206–9
Euclid, 62
Eudoxus, 45
EUVE (Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer), 322–3
Evans, Revd. Robert Owen, 325
Evelyn, John, 136–8
evolution theory, 201–2
extraterrestrial life, 96–7, 261–3, 274–5, 358, 363–4
Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer see EUVE
Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer see FUSE
Faraday, Michael, 195–6, 226–7
Fermat, Pierre de, 149
Fisher, Richard, 342
Fitzgerald, Edward, 63
FitzGerald, George, 209
Flamsteed, John, 125, 152, 166–9, 170–1
force concept, 332–4
Fowler, William, 298
France: maps, 159–60
Frederick II, king of Denmark, 62, 84–5, 86, 87
Friedmann, Alexander, 221–2, 326
FUSE (Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer), 322–3
Gagarin, Yuri, 305–6
galaxies
classification, 238–9
clustering, 351–2
measuring distance from Earth, 344–5, 351–2
movements, 239–43
rotation and structure, 346–53
see also individual galaxies by name
Galileo spacecraft, 312, 313–14
Galileo Galilei, 96, 97–108, 148, 149, 164, 291
Galle, Johann Gottfried, 193
gamma rays, 322
Gamow, George, 326–7
Ganymede, 314–15
Geller, Margaret, 352
George III, king of Great Britain and Ireland, 184
George, Prince, of Denmark, 169
Gervaise of Canterbury, 69–70
Graham, George, 172
Grand Unification Epoch see GUE
gravitational accretion, 359
gravitational lensing, 222–4, 350–1
and black holes, 269–70, 271–2, 277–8
Copernican attitude, 75
and dark energy, 355–7
escape velocities, 155–6, 270–1
Galileo’s experiments, 99–100
importance, 193–5
measuring specific, 98
Newton’s theory, 131–3, 134, 135–6, 138–45
and planetary orbits, 158
separation from other forces during Big Bang, 334
and space/time, 216–20
and unified field theory, 333–4
“Great Debate,” 233–4
Great Wall, 352
Green, Charles, 177
Greenwich Observatory, 151, 165–9
Gregory XIII, Pope, 41
Grossmann, Marcel, 224
GUE (Grand Unification Epoch), 335
Guth, Alan, 335
H-R diagram, 341–2
Habicht, Konrad, 212
Hadron and Lepton Era, 337–8
Hale, George Ellery, 234–5, 236
Halley, Edmond, 68–9, 138–43, 169–71
Harrison, John, 171–6
Harrison, William, 174
Harvard, John, 114
Harvard Observatory, 229
Harvard University, 114
Hawking, Stephen, 278, 290–304
Heisenberg, Werner, 250
helium, 338
Herschel, Caroline, 180–1, 182, 184, 185, 189
Herschel, John, 126, 184, 186, 188–91
Herschel, Margaret, 190
Herschel, William, 178–89
Hertzsprung, Ejnar, 341
Herzog, Albert, 211
Hesiod, 22
Hevelius, Elizabeth Margarethe, 127
Hevelius, Johannes, 126–7
Horace, 78
Horrocks, Jeremiah, 95, 110–26, 168
Hoyle, Fred, 243, 253, 265–7, 292, 296–8
Hubble, Edwin, 222, 234, 235, 236–42, 344
Hubble Space Telescope, 237, 241, 317, 319–22, 345
Hubble’s constant, 239–42, 344–5
Hubble’s law, 239–42, 344, 354–5
Huchra Lens, 224
Hven, 84–6
hydrogen, 338
hydrogen spectrum, 199
hydrostatic balances, 98
Inflationary Epoch, 335–6
infrared, 187
interferometry, 321
Io, 314
Islamic astronomy see Arabian and Persian astronomy
Israel, Werner, 303
James I and VI, king of England and Scotland, 85
Jansky, Karl, 259–60
Jodrell Bank, 261
Jupiter
ancients’ understanding of movements, 11
and the asteroid belt, 360
and Copernican cosmology, 78
exploration, 312–16
orbit, 158
rings, 360–1
use to calculate speed of light, 152–3
use to determine longitude, 151, 163–4
Keck Telescopes, 321
Kendall, Larcum, 176
Kennedy, John F., 306
Kepler, Johannes, 81, 87–95, 116, 258
Kepler’s Star, 91
Khwajah Nizami, 64
Kuiper, Gerard, 319
Kuiper Belt, 319
Lagrange, Joseph-Louis, 157, 158, 188
Laika (dog), 305
Lansberg, Philip, 116
Laplace, Pierre Simon, 157, 158, 188
Large Hadron Collider, 333
latitude and longitude, 36, 151–2, 159, 161–77
Le Verrier, Urbain-Jean-Joseph, 193, 219–20
leap years, 41
Leavitt, Henrietta, 229–31, 236, 341
Leibniz, Gottfried, 156
Levy, David, 325
light
Herschel’s experiments, 187
Newton’s experiments, 130–1
waves or particles?, 153–4, 206–9, 249–50
see also optics
light years, 200
Lippershey, Hans, 100
Liverpool, 109–11
longitude see latitude and longitude
Lorentz, Hendrick, 209
Lorini, Nicolo, 103
Louis XIV, king of France, 150–1
Lowell, Percival, 308
Lowell Observatory, 231
Lyell, Charles, 202–3
magnetism, 194–7
see also electromagnetism
maps, 159–60
ability to support life, 363–4
ancients’ understanding of movements, 11
and Copernican cosmology, 77, 78
exploration, 307–10
Galileo’s observations, 102
and Horrocks’ hypothesis, 123
orbit, 92–3
use to determine Earth–Sun distance, 152
Mather, Richard, 112
matrix mechanics, 250
Maxwell, James Clerk, 196–7, 224, 226–7
Mayans, 14
Mayer, Tobias, 176
Mayer, Walter, 225
Mendeleyev, Dmitry, 199
Mercury
ancients’ understanding of movements, 11
and Copernican cosmology, 77, 78
death, 253
exploration, 311–12
Gassendi’s observations of transit, 123
orbit, 219
Mersenne, Marin, 148–9
Messenger mission, 312
Messier, Charles, 182
Michell, John, 156
microwaves, 197
Milky Way
Herschel’s model, 186–7
position in universe, 241
rotation, 347–8
size, 236
Sun’s position, 186–7, 235–6, 346
Miller, Stanley, 364
Miranda, 317
Mohammed, Prophet, 53
Moon
ancients’ understanding of movements, 2, 5–10, 13, 26–9, 44, 46
craters, 363
dark side, 306
distance from Earth and size, 26–9, 37, 46
Earth’s gravitational force on, 135–6
first examination by telescope, 101
formation, 361–3
landings, 306–7
libration, 157
meteorites striking, 69–70
orbit, 124–5
phases, 9–10
photographs, 204
rotation, 159
and Sumerians, 17
and tides, 10
use to determine longitude, 151, 163, 164–5, 167–9, 175–7
worship, 14
see also eclipses, lunar
moons: formation, 360–1
motion, Newton’s laws, 133–4, 143–5
Mount Wilson Observatory, 234–7
Much Hoole, 117–18
mural quadrants, 86
navigation
arc of the meridian, 159
astrolabes, 51–2, 54–5, 60, 70–1, 162
compasses, 194
measuring longitude, 151, 161–77
nautical almanacs, 170–7
origin of degrees and minutes, 18
origin of latitude and longitude, 36
nebulae, 181, 182, 204, 244–5, 346
planetary, 254
Neptune, 192–3, 312, 317, 360–1
neutrons, 337
New Horizons probe, 318
Newton, Humphrey, 145–6
Newton, Isaac
date of birth, 291
on Descartes, 150
and Flamsteed’s research, 169
on Horrocks, 126
and light, 153–4
as Master of the Mint, 191
and Moon’s motion, 168
overview, 128–46
rivalry with Leibniz, 156
validity of laws, 226–7
Nizam ul Mulk, 60–1
Novara, Domenico Maria de, 72
nuclear fission, 251
nuclear force
nuclear fusion, 251
nuclear physics, 246–58
numerical systems: zero, 55
observatories
Harvard, 229
Hubble Space Telescope, 237, 241, 317, 319–22, 345
Lowell, 231
Mount Wilson, 234–7
Paris, 150–2
in space, 322–4
Uraniborg, 84–6
Odoacer, 52
Oenopides, 23
Olber, Heinrich, 155
Olber’s paradox, 155
Omar Khayyam, 60–5
Oort, Jan, 319
Oort Cloud, 319
Opportunity rover, 309
optics, 58–9
active and adaptive, 321
Orion Nebula, 204
pair production, 335
Palomar Observatory, 235
Pandora, 316
parallax method, 340–1
solar parallax, 123–4
stellar parallax, 200–1, 204–5, 341
Parbsjerg, Manderup, 82
Paris Observatory, 150–2
parsecs, 200
Pascal, Blaise, 149
Pascal’s triangle, 62
Peacock, George, 188–9
Penrose, Roger, 278, 299–300, 302–3
Penzias, Arno, 328
periodic table, 199
Perlmutter, Saul, 354
Persian astronomy see Arabian and Persian astronomy
PG 2112+059 (quasar), 282
Phoenix lander, 309
photoelectric effect, 213–14
photography see astrophotography
pi, 18–19
Picard, Jean, 151–2
Planck, Max, 330
Planck Era, 334
Planck scale, 330–1
plane of the ecliptic, 48
planetesimals, 359
planets
ancients’ understanding of movements, 10–11, 44–5, 46, 47–9
and Copernican cosmology, 76–9
Descartes’ theories on motions, 150
dwarf planets, 318
escape velocities, 155–6, 270–1
formation, 358–61
gravity’s effect on orbits, 138–45, 158
Horrocks’ hypothesis, 123
Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, 93–4
life on other, 96–7, 261–3, 274–5, 358, 363–4
measuring distance from Earth, 341
orbits and positions, 79, 81–95
see also individual planets by name
Pluto, 318
Poseidonius, 33–4
prime mover, 48
prisms, 130–1
probability, binomial, 62
Prometheus, 316
protons, 337
Ptolemy
and the Moon, 125
on orbit shape, 93
overview, 43–9
pulsars, 261–5
Pythagoras, 23
quadrants, mural, 86
quantum mechanics, 225, 250, 296, 300–2
quarks, 337
quintessence, 356–7
radio waves, 197
ratios, 62
Reber, Grote, 260
Reconnaissance orbiter, 309
redshift, 231–2, 280–1, 344–5, 352
and black holes, 277
general theory of, 216–21, 222–4
and quantum mechanics, 296, 300–2
special theory of, 208–9, 210, 213–16
Rhaeticus, 80
Rhodes, Colossus of, 35–6
ring systems, 360–1
Roman empire, fall of, 52
Rømer, Ole, 152–3
Romulus Augustus, Western Roman emperor, 52
rotation curve, 348
Royal Astronomical Society, 188
Royal Society, 131, 138, 147, 149–50
RR Lyrae variables, 236
Rubin, Vera, 348
Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, 87, 90, 94–5
Rudolphine Tables, 90–1, 94–5, 116
Russell, Henry Norris, 341
Rutherford, Ernest, 247–8
Sagredo, Giovanni Francesco, 105
Salviati, Fillipo, 104
Sandage, Allan, 279
Saturn
ancients’ understanding of movements, 11
and Copernican cosmology, 78
orbit, 158
Schiaparelli, Giovanni, 308
Schmidt, Brian, 354
Schmidt, Maarten, 280
Schrödinger, Erwin, 250
Scout missions, 309–10
Secchi, Angelo, 205–6
SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), 274–5
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, 35–6
Shoemaker-Levy 9 (comet), 313, 325
singularity theory, 299–300, 302
Slipher, Vesto, 231–2, 239, 344
SNC meteorite, 363–4
SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft, 323
solar parallax, 123–4
Solovine, Maurice, 212
solstices, precession of, 42
Sosigenes, 41
South, James, 189–90
space exploration, 305–25
spectrographs, 205
Spirit rover, 309
Spitzer Space Telescope, 322–3
Sputnik I, 305
stars
ancients’ understanding of movements, 47, 48
death, 252–8
distribution in sky, 186–7, 189–91
and element formation, 253, 254, 256–7, 265–9, 297–8
escape velocities, 271
globular star clusters, 235–6
Helvelius’ maps, 127
magnitudes and positions, 36–7, 57, 86–7, 200–1, 204–5, 229–31, 341–4
photographs, 204
spectral features, 205–6, 231–3
stellar parallax, 200–1, 204–5, 341
supernovae, 83–4, 91, 257–8, 261–9, 325
telescopes lead to discovery of many more, 102–3
variable stars, 230–1, 236, 237–8, 342
see also individual stars by name
steady-state theory, 243, 297, 327–9
stellar parallax, 200–1, 204–5, 341
Strabo, 33
Stukeley, William, 132
Sumerians, 16–18
Sun
ancients’ understanding of movements, 2, 5–10, 13, 23, 26, 44, 48
and Babylonians, 19
classification as star, 154
and Copernican cosmology, 71–80, 104–8
death, 252–4
distance from Earth and size, 29–30, 38–40, 46, 152, 177
distance from planets, 94
gravitational effect on planets’ orbits, 138–45
position in Milky Way, 186–7, 235–6, 346
solar parallax, 123–4
solar wind, 323
space observation of, 323
why it shines, 251–2
worship, 14
see also eclipses, solar; stars
supernovae, 83–4, 91, 257–8, 261–9, 325
super-sphere, 285–6
Tariq ibn Ziyad, 66
telescopes
Allen Telescope Array, 274–5
Chandra, 322
Compton, 322
examples through history, 2
Hale, 237
Horrocks’ poem about, 115
Hubble Space, 237, 241, 317, 319–22, 345
invention, 100–1
Jodrell Bank, 261
Keck Telescopes, 321
new techniques, 321
radio, 259–63
Spitzer Space, 322–3
Tempel 1 (comet), 324–5
tensor calculus, 224
Thales, 23
thermodynamics, 298–9
3C 48 (star), 279
tides, 10
time
and special theory of relativity, 213, 215
time measurement
on board ship, 172–6
and distance from equator, 169–70
length of months, 42
and longitude calculation, 163–76
origin of days of the week, 19
origin of minutes and seconds, 18
see also calendars; clocks and watches
Tombaugh, Clyde, 318
Towneley, Richard, 152
trigonometry, 57
Triton, 317
Tully, Brent, 342
21-cm hydrogen line, 342–3, 346–7
Twin Quasar, 223
umbra, 28
uncertainty principle, 250
unified field theory, 333–7
universe
expansion, 221–2, 231–2, 239–43, 353–7
“Great Debate,” 233–4
measuring, 340–9
nature of, 285–9
size, 187–8, 200–1, 231–4, 237–9
steady-state theory, 243, 297, 327–9
structure, 344–52
Uraniborg, 84–6
uranium, 249
Uranus, 182–4, 312, 317, 360–1
Urban VIII, Pope (Cardinal Barberini), 104, 105, 106
Urey, Harold, 364
vacuum energy theory, 356
Venera probes, 310
Venus
ancients’ understanding of movements, 10
and Copernican cosmology, 77, 78
death, 253
exploration, 310–11
orbit and size, 119–23
phases, 102
use to determine Earth–Sun distance, 177
Viking missions, 307–8
virtual particles, 300–1
voids, 352
Vostok I, 305–6
watches see clocks and watches
water hole, 274
wave equation, 250
Whiston, William, 170–1
white dwarfs, 254
Wickens, John, 129
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy probe, 329
Willis, Roger, 173
Winteler, Jost, 211
wormholes, 279
Wren, Christopher, 138–40, 165–6
zero, 55
zodiac constellations, 12