Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing 'Hoax'

Table of contents

• Bad Astronomy i
• Title Page iii
• Contents v
• Introduction 1
• Part I - Bad Astronomy Begins at Home 9
• 1 - The Yolk's on You: Egg Balancing and the Equinox 11
• 2 - Flushed with Embarrassment: the Coriolis Effect and Your Bathroom 21
• 3 - Idiom's Delight: Bad Astronomy in Everyday Language 28
• Part II - From the Earth to the Moon 37
• 4 - Blue Skies Smiling at Me: Why the Sky Is Blue 39
• 5 - A Dash of Seasons: Why Summer Turns to Fall 48
• 6 - Phase the Nation: the Moon's Changing Face 57
• 7 - The Gravity of the Situation: the Moon and the Tides 64
• 8 - The Moon Hits Your Eye like a Big Pizza Pie 77
• Part III - Skies at Night Are Big and Bright 87
• 9 - Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star: Why Stars Appear to Twinkle 89
• 10 - Star Light, Star White: Stars of Many Colors 97
• 11 - Well, Well: the Difficulty of Daylight Star Sighting 103
• 12 - The Brightest Star: Polaris— Just Another Face in the Crowd 111
• 13 - Shadows in the Sky: Eclipses and Sun-Watching 116
• 14 - The Disaster That Wasn't: the Great Planetary Alignment of 2000 125
• 15 - Meteors, Meteoroids, and Meteorites, Oh My!: the Impact of Meteors and Asteroids 133
• 16 - When the Universe Throws You a Curve: Misunderstanding the Beginning of It All 142
• Part IV - Artificial Intelligence 153
• 17 - Appalled at Apollo: Uncovering the Moon-Landing Hoax 155
• 18 - Worlds in Derision: Velikovsky Vs. Modern Science 174
• 19 - In the Beginning: Creationism and Astronomy 187
• 20 - Misidentified Flying Objects: Ufos and Illusions of the Mind and Eye 202
• 21 - Mars Is in the Seventh House, but Venus Has Left the Building: Why Astrology Doesn't Work 212
• Part V - Beam Me Up 221
• 22 - Hubble Trouble: Hubble Space Telescope Misconceptions 223
• 23 - Star Hustlers: Star Naming for Dummies 236
• 24 - Bad Astronomy Goes Hollywood: the Top-Ten Examples of Bad Astronomy in Major Motion Pictures 245
• Recommended Reading 259
• Acknowledgments 263
• Index 265

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