In Search of Planet Vulcan:The Ghost in Newton’s Clockwork Universe by Richard Baum and William Sheehan

   There aren’t many good books on the history of observational astronomy out there.  The public perception of the lone astronomer standing vigil at the eyepiece is rapidly vanishing into the past.
   In Search of Planet Vulcan reads like a good mystery novel. 

Childhoods’ End by Arthur C. Clarke

   Childhoods’ End covers a broad swath of human history. Like Rendezvous with Rama it covers one of sci-fi’s most hollowed (or hackneyed?) themes; first contact with extraterrestials. 

Viewing a Low Altitude Occultation

Daytime Moon & Venus. Photo by Author. 
   This past Thursday, I got an e-mail from Sky & Telescopes’ automated alert system; Monday, the 18th of June, there would be an occultation of Venus by the Moon visible from extreme northern New England and the Canadian Maritimes.  This occultation would also span the Atlantic, Europe, and into Asia, [...]

Starting into Astronomy: To Buy (Or not Buy) a Telescope?

   One of the questions I most frequently recieve is “what kind of telescope should I buy as a beginner or for a child?”  Certainly there is a lot of pitfalls to avoid, and very few hands on resources to test drive a potential new scope.