Articles
Ancient Astronomy
Gingerich, O. “From Aristarchus to Copernicus.” Sky & Telescope (November 1983): 410.
Astronomy and Astrology
Fraknoi, A. “Your Astrology Defense Kit.” Sky & Telescope (August 1989): 146.
Constellations
Crossen, C. “Our Surprisingly Ancient “Greek” Constellations.” Sky & Telescope (May 2016): 24. On the earlier cultures on which Greeks constellations are based.
Crossen, C. “The Ancient Circle of Animals: Zodiac History.” Sky & Telescope (January 2018): 66.
Hannikainen, D. “What Are Constellations.” Sky & Telescope (October 2022): 74.
Copernicus and Galileo
Falk, D. “How Copernicus Moved the Sun.” Astronomy (August 2019): 44. The story of his life and work.
Gingerich, O. “Galileo and the Phases of Venus.” Sky & Telescope (December 1984): 520.
Gingerich, O. “How Galileo Changed the Rules of Science.” Sky & Telescope (March 1993): 32.
Maran, S., and Marschall, L. “The Moon, the Telescope, and the Birth of the Modern World.” Sky & Telescope (February 2009): 28.
Sobel, D. “The Heretic’s Daughter: A Startling Correspondence Reveals a New Portrait of Galileo.” The New Yorker (September 13, 1999): 52.
Websites
Ancient Astronomy
Aristarchos of Samos: http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/JRASC/0075//0000029.000.html. By Dr. Alan Batten.
Claudius Ptolemy: http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Ptolemy.html. An interesting biography.
Eratosthenes: https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Eratosthenes/. MacTutor biography.
Hipparchus of Rhodes: http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Hipparchus.html. An interesting biography.
Astronomy and Astrology
Astrology and Science: http://www.astrology-and-science.com/index.htm. Articles and research studies fill this crowded site, which is the single best place to examine seriously the issues with astrology and the experiments that have been done.
Bad Astronomy Page on Astrology: http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/astrology.html. Good analysis by Phil Plait.
Does Astrology Need to be True?: https://skepticalinquirer.org/2016/11/does-astrology-need-to-be-true-a-thirty-year-update/. An article from Skeptical Inquirer.
Real Romance in the Stars: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/the-real-romance-in-the-stars-1527970.html. 1995 newspaper commentary attacking astrology.
Constellations
Constellations Explained (from the International Astronomical Union): https://www.iau.org/public/themes/constellations/.
Cultures in the Sky: How Civilizations Across the World Have Seen Their Myths and Legends in the Sky: https://figuresinthesky.visualcinnamon.com/.
Learn the Constellations (Tours from Astronomy Magazine): https://www.astronomy.com/observing/learn-the-constellations/.
Copernicus and Galileo
Galileo Galilei: http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Galileo.html. A good biography with additional links.
Galileo Project: http://galileo.rice.edu/. Rice University’s repository of information on Galileo.
N. Copernicus: https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Copernicus/. A biography at MacTutor including links to photos about his life.
Music about Copernicus and Galileo
Galileo: The Rock Musical. Premiered in Berkeley in 2024; some excerpts with the songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skDxT793YYw&list=PLUH841ep4pWhaiTruypPHTk70JwttoY3a.
Glass, P. Galileo Galilei: An Opera. A retrospective through Galileo’s life and work, going from old age back to his youth. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei_(opera) for information; for some glimpses of the Portland Opera production, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhL_C3QqaY8.)
Gorecki, H. Symphony 2 (Copernican). Commissioned to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Copernicus’ birth; includes some text from his book De Revolucionibus. (Background information at http://unsungsymphonies.blogspot.com/2010/08/hey-copernicus-goreckis-second-symphony.html; Music on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF_h9147RIw.)
Grant, A. “Galileo” on her Heart in Motion album. Compares the singer’s attraction to her lover to Galileo’s attraction to starlight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxlE_cnm8aA.
Indigo Girls. “Galileo.” Calls on the spirit of Galileo for society to accept things that are new or different: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KELOhOMyHHA.
Smit, L. Copernicus: Narrative and Credo. With text by astronomer Fred Hoyle. Written in honor of the 500th anniversary of Copernicus’ birth; contains a moving declaration of cosmic belief from Hoyle. You can hear that “Credo” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3J9583fiOws.
Videos
Astronomy and Astrology
Astrology Debunked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y84HX2pMo5U. A compilation of clips of scientists and magicians (including Carl Sagan and Bill Nye) commenting on why astrology cannot work and on experiments to demonstrate that (9:09).
Astrology Debunked: Enemies of Reason: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlMiKrwCRQ0. A segment of a TV show where Richard Dawkins discusses astrology versus astronomy and gives reasons why astrology is just an ancient superstition (9:00).
Derren Brown on Astrology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haP7Ys9ocTk. Excerpt from 2007 British TV “Trick of the Mind,” in which magician and skeptic Brown cleverly exposes astrology as a pseudo-science (8:24).
Constellations
How to Find (Some) Constellations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oxoAAs9TUI. A short video where a park naturalist explains how to start with the Big Dipper and find several key constellations around it, including the one that includes the North Star (2:26).
Virtual Planetarium: All 88 Constellations: >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgoEK4Qubk4. A visualization and tour, from the Rochester Museum of Science, of the 88 regions or constellations into which we have divided the sky (22:02).
Copernicus and Galileo
Apollo 15 Hammer and Feather Drop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYEgdZ3iEKA. Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott took a hammer and feather to the Moon and dropped them in a vacuum to show Galileo was right (1:22).
Copernicus: Astronomer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0p6NKANE08. A short video about Copernicus’ life and work, part of the Biography series (2:41).
Galileo’s Battle for the Heavens: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL28AF597A9C90E18E. A NOVA episode on PBS (1:48:55)
Mini-biography of Galileo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J0-ZbbrD6U. 2013 illustrated video, with interviews with astronomers Laura Danly and Amy Mainzer (2:51).