SKU: 34861077653

Epic Moon

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Epic MoonBy William P. Sheehan and Thomas A. Dobbins. Product Information: Hardbound, 6 by 9 inches, 364 pages, 186 Illustrations. About Epic Moon, A History of Lunar Exploration in the Age of the Telescope The Moon has always been one of the most obvious and in some ways the most enticing astronomical objects even from early times, it was Queen of the Night, and the naked eye sees more detail than even the largest telescopes reveal on Mars. As early as 1609

By William P. Sheehan and Thomas A. Dobbins.

Product Information: Hardbound, 6 by 9 inches, 364 pages, 186 Illustrations.

About Epic Moon, A History of Lunar Exploration in the Age of the Telescope
The Moon has always been one of the most obvious and in some ways the most enticing astronomical objects – even from early times, it was Queen of the Night, and the naked eye sees more detail than even the largest telescopes reveal on Mars.

As early as 1609 Galileo’s first telescope showed the Moon to be another world. The Moon has thus been the object of intense study not only since the 1960s but for at least the previous three and a half centuries. The eye arrived before the boot. By the same token, the first “race to the Moon” was not undertaken by American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts but by German and British selenographers in the nineteenth century, who mapped lunar detail so painstakingly that by 1878 – the year Julius Schmidt of the Athens Observatory
published his great Moon map and also the year that Congress organized the United States Geological Survey
and assigned to it the task of making large-scale maps of the United States and its territories – it could be said
without exaggeration that the earthward hemisphere of the Moon had been depicted in greater detail and with more precision than many parts of the American West were depicted in existing maps of the time.

In part, the reason for the long preoccupation with lunar surface details lay in the fact that the mapping of the Moon provided a form of therapy for astronomically inclined obsessive personalities, whose monomaniacal tendencies were drawn to the seemingly inexhaustible project of recording the multitudinous features visible in even a six-inch telescope. In part, too, it lay in the partiality of selenographers for the project – first systematically pursued by Johann Schroeter, the Lilienthal magistrate, at the end of the eighteenth century – of discovering evidence of minor changes in the lunar surface. What became a Promethean quest for changes – veils, clouds, landslips, eruptions – was initially tied in with the theory that the lunar surface features had been formed by volcanic eruptions; however, it curiously survived the demise of the volcanic theory and still shows intermittent gasps of life in the largely amateur-driven search for transient lunar phenomena, or TLP.

The long era of pre-Apollo lunar studies is a fascinating subject that has never been told in detail. “No other book, recent or not-so recent, is devoted to the history of lunar studies with telescopes” (Clark R. Chapman). Though there was a lapse of interest in the Moon in the immediate post-Apollo era, there has been a recent “return to the Moon” with the successful Clementine and Lunar Prospector missions. There is also growing evidence of a return of amateur observers to the Moon as an object worthy of their attentions. This is understandable inasmuch as the Moon remains the most accessible planetary realm; it is, moreover, the only alien world open to geological prospecting from the eyepiece of the backyard telescope.

In that sense, this book is – like the Moon itself – both timely and timeless. The story of mankind’s endless fascination with the world of the Moon and the gallery of interesting characters who pursued the details of the lunar surface with often strange intensity is a modern-day epic. Many of the stories recounted for the first time here will still be recounted generations hence, when the Apollo explorations may seem a mere interlude in what has actually been a more sustained and more significant era of endeavour. It is possible that the names of Schroeter, Beer and Madler, Webb and Schmidt may prove to be as memorable as those of Armstrong, Aldrin, Cernan and Schmitt.

About The Authors:

A psychiatrist with a lifelong interest in astronomy, William P. Sheehan is a contributing editor of Sky & Telescope magazine, a member of the History of Astronomy Division of the American Astronomical
Association, and a consultant to Committee 41 (History) of the International Astronomical Union. His previous books include Planets and Perception, the definitive history of the Martian canal controversy; The Immortal Fire Within, a critically acclaimed biography of the astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard; and In Search of Planet Vulcan (with Richard Baum). Sheehan is a 2001 fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, a prestigious award given to artists, scholars and scientists “on the basis of distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment.”

Thomas A. Dobbins is a keen observer of the Moon and planets and a contributing editor of Sky & Telescope magazine. He is the co-author of Introduction toObserving and Photographing the Solar System (with Donald C. Parker and the late Charles F. Capen) and Video Astronomy (with Steve Massey and Eric Douglas). Dobbins, the Director of Research for a chemical manufacturing firm, holds patents in diverse fields ranging from chemical processing and rocket propulsion to acoustic amplifier design.

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Five stars because I’m super picky about my main blanket and after two years I finally found one that will be as good as the one with 70 holes that I’ve been holding onto like a 7 year old. It’s super furry, and soft and the solid black side is smooth. Its not too heavy , its the best kind of thin which is perfect for Houston Texas. It’s just how I like my go to blanket. I have tons of blankets but there’s always one that’s my most favorited and now, this one will be for the next however many years. It’s a FAB design too. Love!
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Tiffany
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H.
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Beautiful blanket - Matches Pillow Cases perfectly.
This is a beautiful blanket that matches the pillow cases the seller sells in the same pattern and color perfectly. The twin size I purchased is thin as many have said but it is also heavy which is kind of strange. The inside on mine is a velvet type material that is very soft and warm. Some have stated theirs is a silky cold material but I can say mine is not. It is going to work great as the extra blanket on my bed, especially since it matches the pillow cases so perfectly. I did see some were complaining about what happens when you dry it, it basically looks like it melted but really just gets all matted. This happens with most blankets and other items like this. I can say I learned the hard way when I purchased my very first fuzzy blanket a few years ago and washed and dried it immediately only to have an unusable mess come out of the dryer. Since then I wash on gentle and dry mine on air dry with absolutely no heat and have had no problem at all.
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Randi
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