America’s First Eclipse Chasers - Stories of Science, Planet Vulcan, Quicksand, and the Railroad Boom (Paperback, 1st ed. 2023)

In 2017, over 200 million Americans witnessed the spectacular total eclipse of the Sun, and the 2024 eclipse is expected to draw even larger crowds. In anticipation of this upcoming event, this book takes us back in history over 150 years, telling the story of the nation’s first ever eclipse chasers. Our tale follows the chaotic journeys of scientists and amateur astronomers as they trekked across the western United States to view the rare phenomenon of a total solar eclipse. The fascinating story centers on the expeditions of the 1869 total eclipse, which took place during the turbulent age of the chimerical Planet Vulcan and Civil War Reconstruction.   The protagonists—a motley crew featuring astronomical giants like Simon Newcomb and pioneering female astronomers like Maria Mitchell—were met with unanticipated dangers, mission-threatening accidents, and eccentric characters only the West could produce. Theirs is a story of astronomical proportions. Along the way, we will make several stops across the booming US railroad network, traveling from viewing sites as familiar as Des Moines, Iowa, to ones as distant and strange as newly acquired Alaska. From equipment failures and botched preparations to quicksand and apocalyptic ‘comets’, welcome to the wild, western world of solar eclipses.

General

Imprint:	Springer International Publishing AG
Country of origin:	Switzerland
Series:	Popular Astronomy
Release date:	May 2023
First published:	2023
Authors:	Thomas Hockey
Dimensions:	240 x 168mm (L x W)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	443
Edition:	1st ed. 2023
ISBN-13:	978-3-03-124123-9
Categories:	Books
LSN:	3-03-124123-1
Barcode:	9783031241239

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