Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-tn8tq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-07T21:30:51.014Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - The night sky

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2009

Get access

Summary

To persons standing alone on a hill during a clear midnight such as this, the roll of the world eastward is almost a palpable movement. The sensation may be caused by the panoramic glide of the stars past earthly objects, which is perceptible in a few minutes of stillness, or by the better outlook upon space that a hill affords, or by the wind, or by the solitude; but whatever be its origin the impression of riding along is vivid and abiding. … After such a nocturnal reconnoitre it is hard to get back to earth, and to believe that the consciousness of such majestic speeding is derived from a tiny human frame …

Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd, New Wessex Edition, Macmillan, 1977, p. 47

A brief history of the sky

You do not need to be told that day and night are not the same. But in what does their difference consist? That the one is light and the other dark? Surely there is more to them than this? There is, and it is this: the absence of airlight allows us to see stars and planets. Their nightly drift across the sky is much more than mere spectacle, though it certainly is that, for it is one of the few clues we have to the fact that we inhabit a spinning sphere of solid matter racing through a void.

Type
Chapter
Information
Out of the Blue
A 24-Hour Skywatcher's Guide
, pp. 157 - 170
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • The night sky
  • John Naylor
  • Book: Out of the Blue
  • Online publication: 14 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511536595.010
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • The night sky
  • John Naylor
  • Book: Out of the Blue
  • Online publication: 14 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511536595.010
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The night sky
  • John Naylor
  • Book: Out of the Blue
  • Online publication: 14 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511536595.010
Available formats
×