The 2021 astronomical forecast is full of eclipses, planetary conjunctions and meteor showers. You c
The 2021 astronomical forecast is full of eclipses, planetary conjunctions and meteor showers. You can get prepped with a few amateur astronomy books in our Digital Library, like Smith’s Illustrated Astronomy (1849).Asa Smith, the Principal of a New York City public school, felt there was a need for an introductory astronomy textbook both affordable and accessible to “common readers” who may lack the mathematical background presumed by more sophisticated options. The woodcut diagrams that face the Q&A-style lessons were drawn on the blocks by Smith himself, and then engraved, and he felt these “ocular demonstrations… shall make the subject easily understood.” Included in the illustrations are Kepler’s Laws, Cut Section of the Sun, Transits to the Year 1900, Signs of the Zodiac, and Telescopic Views of the Moon. More on our blog. -- source link