Many skies : alternative histories of the sun, moon, planets, and stars / Arthur Upgren.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Upgren, Arthur R.

Contributor:

Bonestell, Chesley, illustrator.

Mark B. Adams Science Fiction Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Solar system--Miscellanea.

Solar system.

Astronomy--Miscellanea.

Astronomy.

Genre:

Trivia and miscellanea.

Science fiction.

Penn Provenance:

Adams, Mark B. (donor) (Adams Collection copy)

Physical Description:

viii, 198 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, [2005]

Summary:

"What if Earth had several moons or massive rings like Saturn? What if the Sun were but one star in a double-star or triple-star system? What if Earth were the only planet circling the Sun?" "These and other imaginative scenarios are the subject of Arthur Upgren's inventive book, Many Skies: Alternative Histories of the Sun, Moon, Planets, and Stars. Although the night sky as we know it seems eternal and inevitable, Upgren reminds us that, just as easily, it could have been very different."

"This book not only examines the changes in science that these alternative solar, stellar, and galactic arrangements would have brought, it also explores the different theologies, astrologies, and methods of tracking time that would have developed to reflect them. Our perception of our surroundings, the number of gods we worship, the symbols we use in art and literature, even the way we form nations and empires are all closely tied to our particular (and accidental) placement in the universe."--Jacket.

Contents:

Part I: The Sun and the Moon

Our Three Moons

Within a Triple Star

Our Backward Stellar Magnitude System

An Improper Proper Motion

All Our Yesterdays

We Are Alone

Part II: The Planets

The Rings of Earth

Next Door to a Giant

Double Planet

Debris in the Solar System

Seasons of Paradox

More Than One Pluto

Part III: The Stars

What if the Sun were Red? or Blue?

The Vernal Equinox Lies in Virgo

Vega and Deneb Change Places

The Pleiades Star Cluster is as Close as the Hyades

The Great Popcorn Balls

The Milky Way Lies along our Equator

We Are Alone II

Part IV: Homemade Skies

Ring of Rubbish

The Tangled Skein of Celestial Mechanics

A Second Chance

Chicxulub, the Worst Sky of All.

Notes:

Cover art by Chesley Bonestell.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-190) and index.

Local Notes:

Adams Collection copy presented to the Penn Libraries in 2015 by Dr. Mark B. Adams.

Adams Collection copy has dustjacket.

ISBN:

0813535123

9780813535128

OCLC:

54857882