Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Sun and Its Solar System: A Sexy Musical Pool Game?

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Wacky and Wonderful Misconceptions About Our Universe

Part of the book series: Astronomers' Universe ((ASTRONOM))

  • 672 Accesses

Abstract

We start our exploration of the wacky and wonderful ideas about the universe by meeting some of the strange characters that have livened up the development of astronomy as a science since mediaeval times, starting with a very strange genius who was the last and greatest of the astronomers from the pre-telescopic age of discovery.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 24.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 34.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes and Further Reading

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahe

  2. This was because the distances to the stars are typically many millions of times greater than the distance to the Sun. It was not until extremely delicate measurements were made by Friedrich Bessel in 1838 that this wobble was discovered.

    Google Scholar 

  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Whiston

  4. BCE means “Before Common Era.”

    Google Scholar 

  5. Tucker SD (2017) Space Oddities: Our Strange Attempts to Explain the Universe, Amberley Publishing, UK, Chapter 13.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Velikovsky I (1950) Worlds in Collison, Gollancz Publisher, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm

  8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_and_Betty_Hill

  9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V838_Monocerotis

  10. Herschel W (1801) “Observations Tending To Investigate the Nature of the Sun,” Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London. 91, 265.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Kawaler S, Veverka J (1981) “The Habitable Sun – One of William Herschel’s Stranger Ideas,” Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Vol. 75, P. 46 Available at http://bit.ly/2mhdxqk

  12. This idea has recently been questioned and the effect is now considered to be an optical illusion created by the different transparencies of the regions around sunspots.

    Google Scholar 

  13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titius%E2%80%93Bode_law

  14. http://bit.ly/2r1g8H2

  15. Francis PH (1964) The Temperate Sun, Norris & Sons Ltd Publisher (UK).

    Google Scholar 

  16. http://bit.ly/2pkYMEN starting at 1 min 40 sec.

  17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granule_(solar_physics).

  18. Ashbrook J (1984) The Astronomical Scrapbook, Cambridge University Press, Chapter 28.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Weymouth, Dorset, UK

    Geoffrey Kirby

Authors
  1. Geoffrey Kirby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Kirby, G. (2018). The Sun and Its Solar System: A Sexy Musical Pool Game?. In: Wacky and Wonderful Misconceptions About Our Universe. Astronomers' Universe. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73022-6_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation