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Horizons
14 FOURTEENTH EDITION
Horizons
Exploring the Universe
Michael Seeds
Joseph R. Grundy Observatory
Franklin and Marshall College
Dana Backman
SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory
for Infrared Astronomy)
SETI Institute & NASA Ames
Research Center
With MindTap media contributions

and additional problems from
Michele Montgomery,
© Universal History Archive / Getty Images
University of Central Florida.
Australia • Brazil • Mexico • Singapore • United Kingdom • United States
Horizons: Exploring the Universe, © 2018, 2014, 2012 Cengage Learning
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Dedication
For our families
Brief Contents
Part 1: The Sky
CHAPTER 1 HERE AND NOW 1
CHAPTER 2 A USER’S GUIDE TO THE SKY 11
CHAPTER 3 CYCLES OF THE SUN AND MOON 23
CHAPTER 4 THE ORIGIN OF MODERN ASTRONOMY 45
CHAPTER 5 LIGHT AND TELESCOPES 73
Part 2: The Stars

CHAPTER 6 ATOMS AND SPECTRA 99
CHAPTER 7 THE SUN 114
CHAPTER 8 THE FAMILY OF STARS 138
CHAPTER 9 THE FORMATION AND STRUCTURE OF STARS 166
CHAPTER 10 THE DEATHS OF STARS 194
CHAPTER 11 NEUTRON STARS AND BLACK HOLES 221
Part 3: The Universe of Galaxies

CHAPTER 12 THE MILKY WAY GALAXY 244
CHAPTER 13 GALAXIES: NORMAL AND ACTIVE 269
CHAPTER 14 MODERN COSMOLOGY 298
Part 4: The Solar System

CHAPTER 15 ORIGIN OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND EXTRASOLAR PLANETS 328
CHAPTER 16 EARTH AND MOON: BASES FOR COMPARATIVE PLANETOLOGY 353
CHAPTER 17 MERCURY, VENUS, AND MARS 374
CHAPTER 18 THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM 398
CHAPTER 19 METEORITES, ASTEROIDS, AND COMETS 427
Part 5: Life
CHAPTER 20 ASTROBIOLOGY: LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS 449
vi
Contents
Part 1: The Sky
How Do We Know?
Chapter 1 | Here and Now 1 1-1 The Scientific Method 8
1-1 WHERE ARE WE? 2
2-1 Scientific Models 20
1-2 WHEN IS NOW? 6
3-1 Pseudoscience 29
1-3 WHY STUDY ASTRONOMY? 7
3-2 Evidence as the Foundation of Science 31
Chapter 2 | A User’s Guide to the Sky 11 3-3 Scientific Arguments 32
2-1 THE STARS 12 4-1 Scientific Revolutions 52
2-2 THE SKY AND ITS MOTIONS 17 4-2 Hypothesis, Theory, and Law 57
4-3 Cause and Effect 64
Chapter 3 | Cycles of the Sun and Moon 23 4-4 Testing a Hypothesis by Prediction 70
3-1 CYCLES OF THE SUN 24 5-1 Resolution and Precision 81
3-2 ASTRONOMICAL INFLUENCES ON
EARTH’S CLIMATE 28
3-3 THE CHANGEABLE MOON 31
Chapter 4 | The Origin of Modern Astronomy 45

4-1 CLASSICAL ASTRONOMY 46 Concept Art Portfolios
4-2 THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION 47
2A The Sky Around You 18–19
4-3 PLANETARY MOTION 53
4-4 GALILEO GALILEI 59 3A The Cycle of the Seasons 26–27
4-5 ISAAC NEWTON AND ORBITAL MOTION 62 3B The Phases of the Moon 34–35
4A An Ancient Model of the Universe 48–49

Chapter 5 | Light and Telescopes 73
5-1 RADIATION: INFORMATION FROM SPACE 74 4B Orbits 66–67
5-2 TELESCOPES 77 5A Modern Optical Telescopes 84–85
5-3 OBSERVATORIES ON EARTH: OPTICAL AND
RADIO 83
5-4 AIRBORNE AND SPACE OBSERVATORIES 88
5-5 ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS AND
TECHNIQUES 91
Reasoning with Numbers
2-1 Magnitudes 16
3-1 The Small-Angle Formula 37
4-1 Circular Velocity 65
5-1 The Powers of a Telescope 82
NASA/Rami Daud
vii
Part 2: The Stars
How Do We Know?
Chapter 6 | Atoms and Spectra 99 6-1 Quantum Mechanics 102
6-1 A
ATOMS 100
7-1 Confirmation and Consolidation 127
6-2 INTERACTIONS OF LIGHT AND MATTER 103
7-2 Scientific Confidence 135
6-3 UNDERSTANDING SPECTRA 106
8-1 Chains of Inference 154
Chapter 7 | The Sun 114 8-2 Basic Scientific Data 159
7-1 THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE

A 115 9-1 Separating Facts from Hypotheses 176
7-2 SOLAR ACTIVITY 121 9-2 Mathematical Models 188

7-3 NUCLEAR FUSION IN THE SUN 128 10-1 Toward Ultimate Causes 198
11-1 Hypotheses, Theories, and Proofs 232
Chapter 8 | The Family of Stars 138 11-2 Checks on Fraud in Science 237
8-1 STAR DISTANCES 139
8-2 APPARENT BRIGHTNESS, INTRINSIC BRIGHTNESS,
AND LUMINOSITY 141
8-3 STELLAR SPECTRA 143 Concept Art Portfolios
8-4 STAR SIZES 147
6A Atomic Spectra 108–109
8-5 STAR MASSES—BINARY STARS 152
8-6 A CENSUS OF THE STARS 158 7A Sunspots and the Solar Magnetic Cycle 124–125
7B Solar Activity and the Sun–Earth Connection 130–131

Chapter 9 | The Formation and Structure of Stars 166
8A The Family of Stars 160–161
9-1 THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM 167
9-2 MAKING STARS FROM THE INTERSTELLAR 9A Three Kinds of Nebulae 172–173
MEDIUM 170
9B Star Formation in the Orion Nebula 178–179
9-3 YOUNG STELLAR OBJECTS AND PROTOSTELLAR
DISKS 180 9C Observations of Young Stellar Objects and Protostellar
Disks 182–183
9-4 STELLAR STRUCTURE AND NUCLEAR FUSION 184
9-5 MAIN-SEQUENCE STARS 188 10A Star Clusters and Stellar Evolution 202–203
10B Formation of Planetary Nebulae and

Chapter 10 | The Deaths of Stars 194 White Dwarfs 206–207
10-1 GIANT STARS 196
11A The Lighthouse Model of Pulsars 226–227
10-2 LOWER-MAIN-SEQUENCE STARS 200
10-3 THE EVOLUTION OF BINARY SYSTEMS 208
10-4 THE DEATHS OF MASSIVE STARS 211

Chapter 11 | Neutron Stars and Black Holes 221
11-1 NEUTRON STARS 222 6-1 Blackbody Radiation 106
11-2 BLACK HOLES 233 6-2 The Doppler Formula 111

11-3 COMPACT OBJECTS WITH DISKS AND JETS 238 7-1 Hydrogen Fusion 129
8-1 Parallax and Distance 140
8-2 Absolute Magnitude and Distance 142
8-3 Luminosity, Radius, and Temperature 148
8-4 The Masses of Binary Stars 153
8-5 The Mass–Luminosity Relation 162
9-1 The Life Expectancies of Stars 190
Celestial Profile 1 | The Sun 116
viii CONTENTS
How Do We Know?
+ Visual
12-1 Calibration 249

12-2 Nature as Processes 259
13-1 Classification in Science 271
13-2 Statistical Evidence 286
14-1 Reasoning by Analogy 301
14-2 Science: A System of Knowledge 310
NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA/NSF/ESA/CXC/SAO/J. Hester (Arizona State Univ.)

14-3 Wishing Doesn’t Make It So 318
Concept Art Portfolios

12A Sagittarius A* 260–261
13A Galaxy Classification 272–273
13B Interacting Galaxies 284–285
13C Galaxy Jets and Radio Lobes 288–289
14A The Nature of Space-Time 312–313
Part 3: The Universe of Galaxies

Chapter 12 | The Milky Way Galaxy 244
12-1 DISCOVERY OF THE GALAXY 245
12-2 STRUCTURE OF THE GALAXY 250
12-3 SPIRAL ARMS AND STAR FORMATION 253 13-1 The Hubble Law 276
12-4 THE NUCLEUS OF THE GALAXY 258 14-1 The Age of the Universe 303
12-5 ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE MILKY WAY GALAXY 262
Chapter 13 | Galaxies: Normal and Active 269

13-1 THE FAMILY
F OF GALAXIES 270
13-2 MEASURING THE PROPERTIES OF GALAXIES 274
13-3 THE EVOLUTION OF GALAXIES 280
Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona/R. Kennicutt, SINGS Team

13-4 ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI AND QUASARS 283
X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/Univ. of Massachusetts/Q. D. Wang et al.;

Visual: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA/NSF/The Hubble Heritage Team;
13-5 DISKS, JETS, ERUPTIONS, AND GALAXY EVOLUTION 290
Chapter 14 | Modern Cosmology 298

14-1 INTRODUCTION TO THE UNIVERSE 299
14-2 THE BIG BANG THEORY 302
14-3 SPACE AND TIME, MATTER AND GRAVITY 310
14-4 TWENTY-F
WENTY IRST-C
WENTY-F IRST ENTURY COSMOLOGY 316
CONTENTS ix
Part 4: The Solar System
How Do We Know?
Chapter 15 | Origin of the Solar System and Extrasolar 15-1 Two Kinds of Hypotheses: Catastrophic and
Planets 328 Evolutionary 330
15-1 THE GREAT CHAIN OF ORIGINS 329 15-2 Reconstructing the Past from Evidence and
15-2 A SURVEY OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM 331 Hypotheses 336
15-3 THE STORY OF PLANET BUILDING 338 16-1 Understanding Planets: Follow the Energy 356
15-4 PLANETS ORBITING OTHER STARS 344 16-2 Scientists: Courteous Skeptics 362
17-1 Hypotheses and Theories Unify the Details 377
Chapter 16 | Earth and Moon: Bases for Comparative 17-2 The Present Is the Key to the Past 392
Planetology 353
18-1 Funding for Basic Research 409
16-1 A TRAVEL GUIDE TO THE TERRESTRIAL
19-1 Selection Effects 430
PLANETS 354
16-2 PLANET EARTH 356
16-3 THE MOON 365
Chapter 17 | Mercury, Venus, and Mars 374

17-1 MERCURY 375
17-2 VENUS 378 15A Terrestrial and Jovian Planets 332–333
17-3 MARS 384
16A The Active Earth 360–361
Chapter 18 | The Outer Solar System 398 16B Impact Cratering 366–367
18-1 A TRAVEL GUIDE TO THE OUTER SOLAR 17A Volcanoes 382–383
SYSTEM 399
17B When Good Planets Go Bad 394–395
18-2 JUPITER 400
18-3 SATURN 407 18A Jupiter’s Atmosphere 402–403
18-4 URANUS 414 18B The Ice Rings of Saturn 412–413
18-5 NEPTUNE 417
18C Uranus’s and Neptune’s Rings 418–419
18-6 PLUTO AND THE KUIPER BELT 422
19A Observations of Asteroids 434–435
Chapter 19 | Meteorites, Asteroids, and Comets 427 19B Observations of Comets 440–441
19-1 METEOROIDS, METEORS, AND METEORITES 428
19-2 ASTEROIDS 432
19-3 COMETS 437
19-4 ASTEROID AND COMET IMPACTS 443
Celestial Profile 2 | Earth 364
Celestial Profile 3 | The Moon 364, 376
Celestial Profile 4 | Mercury 376
Celestial Profile 5 | Venus 385
Celestial Profile 6 | Mars 385
Celestial Profile 7 | Jupiter 408
Celestial Profile 8 | Saturn 408
Celestial Profile 9 | Uranus 420
Celestial Profile 10 | Neptune 420
NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
x CONTENTS
How Do We Know?
20-1 The Nature of Scientific Explanation 451
20-2 UFOs and Space Aliens 462

20A DNA: The Code of Life 452–453
Mural by Peter Sawyer
Part 5: Life AFTERWORD 469

APPENDIX A UNITS AND ASTRONOMICAL DATA 471
Chapter 20 | Astrobiology: Life on Other Worlds 449 APPENDIX B OBSERVING THE SKY 479
20-1 THE NATURE OF LIFE 450 GLOSSARY 482
20-2 LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE 454 ANSWERS TO EVEN-NUMBERED PROBLEMS 487
20-3 INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE 461 INDEX 488
NASA
CONTENTS xi
A Note to Students
From Dana and Mike do you know it is true? For instance, astronomy boring. Rather, this book is
how can anyone know there was a big organized to show you how scientists use
We are excited that you are taking
bang? In today’s world, you need to evidence and theory to create logical
an astronomy course and using our
think carefully about the things so-called arguments that show how nature works.
MindTap and textbook. You are going
experts say. You should demand explana- Look at the list of special features that
to see some amazing things, from the icy
tions. Scientists have a special way of follows this note. Those features were
rings of Saturn to monster black holes.
knowing based on evidence that makes carefully designed to help you
We are proud to
scientific knowledge much more power- understand astronomy as evidence and
be your guides as you explore.
ful than just opinion, policy, marketing, theory. Once you see science as logical
We have developed this book to
or public relations. It is the human race’s arguments, you hold the key to the
help you expand your knowledge of
best understanding of nature. To under- Universe.
astronomy, from the Moon and a few
stand the world around you, you need to
stars in the evening sky to a deeper
understand how science works. Don’t Be Humble
understanding of the extent, power, and
Throughout this book, you will find
diversity of the Universe. You will meet As teachers, our quest is simple. We
boxes called How Do We Know? and
worlds where it rains methane, stars so want you to understand your place in
Practicing Science. They will help you
dense atoms cannot exist there, colliding the Universe—not just your location in
understand how scientists use the meth-
galaxies that are ripping each other apart, space but your location in the unfolding
ods of science to know what the
and a Universe that is expanding faster history of the physical Universe. Not
Universe is like.
and faster. only do we want you to know where you
are and what you are in the Universe,
Two Goals Expect to Be Astonished but we want you to understand how sci-
This book is designed to help you One reason astronomy is exciting is entists know. By the end of this book,
answer two important questions: that astronomers discover new things we want you to know that the Universe
every day. Astronomers expect to be is very big but that it is described by a
• What are we? astonished. You can share in the excite- small set of rules and that we humans
• How do we know? ment because we have worked hard to have found a way to figure out the
By the question “What are we?” we include the newest images, the newest rules—through a method called science.
mean, “How do we fit into the Universe discoveries, and the newest insights that To appreciate your role in this beau-
and its history?” The atoms you are will take you, in an introductory course, tiful Universe, you need to learn more
made of had their first birthday in the to the frontier of human knowledge. than just the facts of astronomy. You can
big bang when the Universe began, but Telescopes in space and on remote strive for an understanding of what we
those atoms were cooked and remade mountaintops provide a daily dose are and how we know. Every page of this
inside stars, and now they are inside you. of excitement that goes far beyond book reflects that ideal.
Where will they be in a billion years? sensationalism. These new discoveries
Dana Backman
Astronomy is the only course on campus in astronomy are exciting because they
dbackman@sofia.usra.edu
that can tell you that story, and it is a are about us. They tell us more and
story that everyone should know. more about what we are. Mike Seeds
By the question “How do we As you read this book, notice that it mseeds@fandm.edu
know?” we mean, “How does science is not organized as lists of facts for you
work?” What is the evidence, and how to memorize. That could make even
xii A NOTE TO STUDENTS
Key Content and Pedagogical Special Features
Changes to the Fourteenth
Edition • What Are We? essays are placed at the end of each chapter
to help you understand your own role in the cosmos.
• How Do We Know? commentaries appear in every chapter
• Every chapter has been reviewed and updated with new and will help you see how science works. They point out
discoveries and images. where scientists use statistical evidence, why they think with
• The lunar and solar eclipse tables in Chapter 3 have been analogies, and how they build confidence in hypotheses.
updated to include eclipses through the year 2024. • Practicing Science boxes at the end of many text sections
• The Mars retrograde loop figure in Chapter 4 (“The Ori- are carefully designed to help you review and synthesize con-
gin of Modern Astronomy,” Concept Art 4A, “An Ancient cepts from the section and practice thinking like a scientist.
Model of the Universe”), is updated to 2018. • Special two-page Concept Art spreads provide an oppor-
• New and planned observatory facilities, including the tunity for you to create your own understanding and share
Thirty Meter Telescope, are featured in Chapter 5 (“Light in the satisfaction that scientists feel as they uncover the
and Telescopes”). secrets of nature.
• Solar cycle plots in Chapter 7 (“The Sun”) have been up- • Celestial Profiles of objects in our Solar System directly
dated to 2016, and implications of the late start and weak compare and contrast planets with each other. This is the
maximum of the most recent solar activity cycle are dis- way planetary scientists understand the planets, not as iso-
cussed. lated, unrelated bodies but as siblings with noticeable difdif-
• Chapter 11 (“Neutron Stars and Black Holes”) ferences and yet many characteristics and a family history
includes a description of the discovery of gravity in common.
waves from distant black hole mergers by the LIGO • Guided discovery figures illustrate important ideas visually
interferometer. and guide you to understand relationships and contrasts
• Chapter 12 (“The Milky Way Galaxy”) includes a new interactively.
image of the galaxy’s circumnuclear ring orbiting a central • Guideposts on the opening page of each chapter help you see
supermassive black hole, obtained by an infrared camera the organization of the book by focusing on a small number
onboard NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared of questions to be answered as you read the chapter.
Astronomy (SOFIA). • End-of-Chapter Review Questions are designed to help
• Chapter 14 (“Modern Cosmology”) contains a discussion you review and test your understanding of the material.
of the claimed detection of cosmological gravity waves in • End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions go beyond the text
2014 and subsequent careful reanalysis of the data by and invite you to think critically and creatively about scien-
several research teams, as an object lesson in the care that tific questions. You can ponder these questions yourself or
professional scientists take to check their results and avoid discuss them in class. Many of the Discussion Questions
wishful thinking. have been replaced or rewritten in this edition to better
• Chapter 15 (“Origin of the Solar System and Extrasolar support active-learning classroom scenarios.
Planets”) has been updated with new information regard-
ing the wide and wonderful variety of extrasolar planets
discovered and studied by the Kepler and Spitzer space MindTap for Astronomy
telescopes plus ground-based research programs.
• Chapter 17 (“Mercury, Venus, and Mars”), Chapter 18
• Sense of Proportion questions extend the journey of dis-
(“The Outer Solar System”), and Chapter 19 (“Meteorites, covery through every chapter while grounding the concepts
Asteroids, and Comets”) are updated with new findings in mathematical meaning.
and images regarding Mercury, Mars, Ceres, Comet
• Show Me Astronomy videos guide you through chapter
Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and Pluto from the topics selected and presented by co-author Michele
MESSENGER, Curiosity, Dawn, Rosetta-Philae, and Montgomery, UCF
New Horizons space missions, respectively.
A NOTE TO STUDENTS xiii
MindTap is a digital learning solution that helps instructors simulations that are integrated right into the MindTap
engage and transform today’s students into critical thinkers. reader to help students better visualize the concepts.
Through paths of dynamic assignments and applications that Animation tutorials will build student reasoning so they will
you can personalize, real-time course analytics, and an acces- ultimately be able to draw stronger conclusions.
sible reader, MindTap helps you turn cookie cutter into cutting The end of chapter homework questions in MindTap
edge, apathy into engagement, and memorizers into higher- provide a tighter integration with the textbook content and
level thinkers. emphasize conceptual understanding. In addition, instruc-
MindTap for Astronomy has a carefully curated learning tors can customize the learning path with the Assessment
path that includes tutorial simulations, readings, and assess- app, which includes thousands of questions pulled from
ments. Research has proven that students perform better decades of legacy content. Instructor supplements include
when activities encourage an active experience; with this Class Engagement Lecture Slides, Images from the book,
research in mind, author Mike Seeds has developed tutorial and Cengage Learning Testing, powered by Cognero®.
Acknowledgments
Over the years we have had the guidance of a great many people operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France. We also used images and
who care about astronomy and teaching. We would like to thank image mosaics obtained as part of the Two Micron All Sky
all of the students and teachers who have contributed their Survey (2MASS), a joint project of the University of
insights and suggestions. Their comments have been very helpful Massachusetts and Caltech, funded by NASA and the NSF.
in shaping this book. It is always a pleasure to work with the Cengage Learning
We would especially like to thank Susan English, whose team. Special thanks go to all of the people who have contrib-
careful reading and thoughtful suggestions have been invaluable uted directly to this project, including Product Assistants
in completing this new edition, and Michael Jacobs for his help Margaret O’Neil and Caitlin Ghegan and Content Developer
with new Discussion Questions. Michael Jacobs. We always enjoy working with Margaret
Many observatories, research institutes, laboratories, and Pinette, and continue to appreciate her understanding and
individual astronomers have supplied figures and diagrams for goodwill. We would especially like to thank Product Manager
this edition. They are listed in the individual item credits, and Rebecca Berardy Schwartz for her help and guidance through-
we would like to thank them here specifically for their out this project.
generosity. Most of all, we would like to thank our families for putting
We are happy to acknowledge the use of images and data up with “the books.” They know all too well that textbooks are
from a number of important programs. In updating materials for made of time.
this book, especially the data tables in Chapters 9 and 10 and Dana Backman
Appendix A, we made extensive use of the SIMBAD database Mike Seeds
xiv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
About the Authors
Dana Backman taught in the physics and astronomy department at Franklin
and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from 1991 until 2003.
He invented and taught a course titled “Life in the Universe” in F&M’s inter-
disciplinary Foundations program. Dana now teaches some introductory
astronomy classes at Santa Clara University. His research interests focus on
infrared observations of planet formation, models of debris disks around
nearby stars, and evolution of the Solar System’s Kuiper Belt. Dana is
employed by the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, as director of
education and public outreach for SOFIA (the Stratospheric Observatory for
Seth Shostak / SETI Institute
Infrared Astronomy) at NASA’s Ames Research Center. Dana is coauthor

with Mike Seeds of Horizons: Exploring the Universe, 12th edition (2012);
Universe: Solar Systems, Stars, and Galaxies, 7th edition (2012); Stars and
Galaxies, 8th edition (2013); The Solar System, 8th edition (2013); and
ASTRO, 2nd edition (2013), all published by Cengage.
Mike Seeds was a professor of physics and astronomy at Franklin and Marshall
College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from 1970 until his retirement in 2001. In
1989 he received F&M College’s Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Mike’s love for the history of astronomy led him to create upper-level courses on
archaeoastronomy and on the Copernican Revolution (“Changing Concepts of
the Universe”). His research interests focus on variable stars and automation of
astronomical telescopes. Mike is coauthor with Dana Backman of Horizons:
Exploring the Universe, 12th edition (2012); Universe: Solar Systems, Stars,
and Galaxies, 7th edition (2012); Stars and Galaxies, 8th edition (2013);
The Solar System, 8th edition (2013); and ASTRO, 2nd edition (2013), all
published by Cengage. He was senior consultant for creation of the 20-episode
telecourse accompanying his book Horizons: Exploring the Universe.
Courtesy of Kris Koenig
ABOUT THE AUTHORS xv
Guidepost As you study astronomy, you also learn about
Here and Now
This chapter is a jumping-off point for your exploration of

1
yourself. You are a planet-walker, and this chapter offers you deep space and deep time. The next chapter continues your
a preview of what that means. The planet you live on whirls journey by looking at the night sky as seen from Earth. As you
around a star that moves through a space filled with other stars study astronomy, you will see how science gives you a way to
and galaxies (see the photo in CO1). You owe it to yourself to know how nature works. Later chapters will provide more spe-
know where you are located in the Universe and when you are cific insights into how scientists study and understand nature.
living its history because those are important steps to knowing
what you are.
In this chapter, you will consider three important questions:
▶ Where is Earth in the Universe?
▶ How does human history fit into the history of the

The longest journey begins with a single step.
Universe?
—LAOZI
▶ Why study astronomy?
NOAA/NASA GOES Project
Visual
CO1. Image of Earth from the GOES (Geostationary Operational

Environment Satellite) East weather satellite stationed over the central
Atlantic Ocean. This image, which was made during the month of
January, shows a coating of snow over Canada and the northern part
of the United States, as well as lush vegetation in the Amazon Basin of
South America.
1-1 Where Are We?
To find your place among the stars, you can take a cosmic zoom,
a ride out through the Universe to preview the kinds of objects
you are about to study.
You can begin with something familiar. Figure 1-1 shows a
region about 50 feet across occupied by a human being, a side-
walk, and a few trees—all objects with sizes you can understand.
Each successive picture in this cosmic zoom will show you a
region of the Universe that is 100 times wider than the preced-
ing picture. That is, each step will widen your field of view, the
region you can see in the image, by a factor of 100.
Widening your field of view by a factor of 100 allows you
to see an area 1 mile in diameter (Figure 1-2). People, trees, and
sidewalks have become too small to see, but now you see a col- Visual
USGS
lege campus and surrounding streets and houses. The dimen-
sions of houses and streets are familiar. This is still the world you ▲ Figure 1-2 This box ■ represents the relative size of the
know. previous frame.
Before leaving this familiar territory, you should make
a change in the units you use to measure sizes. All scientists, (Figure 1-3). Now your field of view is 160 km wide, and you
including astronomers, use the metric system of units because see cities and towns as patches of gray. Wilmington, Delaware,
it is well understood worldwide and, more importantly, because is visible at the lower right. At this scale, you can see some of the
it simplifies calculations. If you are not already familiar with natural features of Earth’s surface. The Allegheny Mountains of
the metric system, or if you need a review, study Appendix A southern Pennsylvania cross the image in the upper left, and the
before reading on. Susquehanna River flows southeast into Chesapeake Bay. What
In metric units, the image in Figure 1-1 is about 16 meters look like white bumps are a few puffs of clouds.
across, and the 1-mile diameter of Figure 1-2 equals about 1.6 Figure 1-3 is an infrared photograph in which healthy green
kilometers. You can see that a kilometer (abbreviated km) is a leaves and crops show up as red. Human eyes are sensitive to
bit under two-thirds of a mile—a short walk across a neighbor- only a narrow range of colors called “visual.” As you explore the
hood. But when you expand your field of view by a factor of Universe in the following chapters, you will learn to use a wide
100, the neighborhood you saw in the previous photo vanishes range of other “colors,” from X-rays to radio waves, to reveal
NASA/Landsat
Michael A. Seeds
Infrared
Visual
▲ Figure 1-3 This box ■ represents the relative size of

▲ Figure 1-1 the previous frame.
2 PART 1 THE SKY
Earth Moon
Enlarged to show
relative sizes
Visual
NASA
NASA
Earth Moon
▲ Figure 1-4 This box ■ represents the relative size of the
previous frame.
previous frame.
sights invisible to unaided human eyes. Photographs in this book When you once again enlarge your field of view by a fac-
generally will have labels noting which color or type of light was tor of 100, Earth, the Moon, and the Moon’s orbit all lie in the
used to make the image. small red box at lower left of Figure 1-6. Now you can see the Sun
At the next step in your journey, you can see your entire and two other planets that are part of our Solar System. Our
planet, which is nearly 13,000 km in diameter (Figure 1-4). At Solar System consists of the Sun, its family of planets, and some
any particular moment, half of Earth’s surface is exposed to sun- smaller bodies, such as moons and comets.
light, and half is in darkness. As Earth rotates on its axis, it car- Earth, Venus, and Mercury are planets, small, spherical,
ries you through sunlight and then through darkness, producing nonluminous bodies that orbit a star and shine by reflected light.
the cycle of day and night. The blurriness you see at the extreme Venus is about the size of Earth, and Mercury has just over a
right of the photo is the boundary between day and night—the third of Earth’s diameter. On this diagram, they are both too
sunset line. This is a good example of how a photo can give you small to be seen as anything but tiny dots. The Sun is a star, a
visual clues to understanding a concept. Special questions called self-luminous ball of hot gas that generates its own energy. Even
“Learning to Look” at the end of each chapter give you a chance
to find connections between images and information regarding
astronomical objects.
Enlarge your field of view by another factor of 100, and
you see a region 1,600,000 km wide ( Figure 1-5). Earth is the Sun
Venus
small blue dot in the center, and the Moon, whose diameter is
only one-fourth that of Earth, is an even smaller dot along its
orbit 380,000 km away. The relative sizes of Earth and Moon are
shown in the inset at the bottom right of Figure 1-5.
These numbers are so large that it is inconvenient to write AU
1
them out. Astronomy is sometimes known as the science of big Mercury
numbers, and soon you will be using numbers much larger than
these to discuss the Universe. Rather than writing out these Enlarged to show
relative sizes
numbers as in the previous paragraph, it is more convenient to
write them in scientific notation. This is nothing more than Earth
NSF/AURA/NOAO
a simple way to write very big or very small numbers without Earth
using lots of zeros. In scientific notation, 380,000 becomes Sun
3.8 3 10 5. If you are not familiar with scientific notation,
read the section on powers of 10 notation in Appendix A. The ▲ Figure 1-6 The small red box around Earth at lower left
Universe is too big to discuss without using scientific notation. contains the entire field of view of Figure 1-5 .
Chapter 1 HERE AND NOW 3
though the Sun is about 100 times larger in diameter than Earth
(inset), it too is nothing more than a dot in the figure.
This diagram represents an area with a diameter of
1.6 3 10 8 km. Another way astronomers simplify descrip-
tions and calculations using large numbers is to define larger
units of measurement. For example, the average distance from
Earth to the Sun is a unit of distance called the astronomical
Sun and planets
unit (AU), which is equal to 1.5 3 108 km. You can express
the average distance from Venus to the Sun as about 0.72 AU
and the average distance from Mercury to the Sun as about
0.39 AU.
These distances are averages because the orbits of the planets
are not perfect circles. This is particularly apparent in the case of
Mercury. Its orbit carries it as close to the Sun as 0.31 AU and
as far away as 0.47 AU. You can see the variation in the distance
from Mercury to the Sun in Figure 1-6. Earth’s orbit is more cir- ▲ Figure 1-8 The small red box at the center contains the
cular, and its distance from the Sun varies by only a few percent. entire field of view of Figure 1-7.
Enlarge your field of view again by a factor of 100, and you

can see the entire Solar System (Figure 1-7). The Sun, Mercury,
Venus, and Earth lie so close together that you cannot see them You can remember the order of the plants from the Sun
separately at this scale, and they are lost in the red square at the outward by remembering a simple sentence: My Very Educated
center of the diagram that shows the size of the previous figure. Mother Just Served Us Noodles (perhaps you can come up with a
You can see only the brighter, more widely separated objects such better one). The first letter of each word is the same as the first
as Mars, the next planet outward. Mars lies only 1.5 AU from letter of a planet’s name: Mercury, Venus Earth, Mars Jupiter,
the Sun, but Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are farther Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
from the Sun and so are easier to place in this diagram. They When you again enlarge your field of view by a factor of
are cold worlds far from the Sun’s warmth. Light from the Sun 100, the Solar System vanishes (Figure 1-8). The Sun is only a
reaches Earth in only 8 minutes, but it takes more than 4 hours point of light, and all the planets and their orbits are now
to reach Neptune. crowded into the small red square at the center. The planets
are too small and too faint to be visible so near the brilliance of
the Sun.
Notice that no stars are visible in Figure 1-8 except for the
Sun. The Sun is a fairly typical star, and it seems to be located in
a fairly average neighborhood in the Universe. Although there
are many billions of stars like the Sun, none are close enough
to be visible in this diagram, which shows a region only 11,000
AU in diameter. Stars are typically separated by distances about
30 times larger than that.
Sun In Figure 1-9, your field of view has expanded to a diameter
of a bit over 1.1 million AU. The Sun is at the center, and at this
Mars scale you can see a few of the nearest stars. These stars are so dis-
Jupiter tant that it is not convenient to give their distances in astronomi-
Saturn cal units. To express distances so large, astronomers define a new
Uranus unit of distance, the light-year. One light-year (ly) is the distance
that light travels in one year, roughly 1013 km or 63,000 AU.
Neptune
It is a Common Misconception that a light-year is a unit of
time, and you can sometimes hear the term misused in science
fiction movies and TV shows. The diameter of your field of view
in Figure 1-9 is 17 ly.
▲ Figure 1-7 The small red box around the Sun at center Another Common Misconception is that stars look like
contains the entire field of view of Figure 1-6. disks when seen through a telescope. Although stars are typically
4 PART 1 THE SKY
Sun
NSF/AURA/NOAO/Bill Schoening
Visual

previous frame. ▲ Figure 1-10 This box ■ represents the relative size of the
previous frame.
about the same size as the Sun, they are so far away that astrono- of stars surrounding us and ringing the sky. This band of stars
mers cannot see them as anything but points of light. Even the is known as the Milky Way, and our galaxy is called the
closest star to the Sun—Proxima Centauri, only 4.2 ly away— Milky Way Galaxy.
looks like a point of light through the biggest telescopes on How does anyone know what the disk of the Milky Way
Earth. Furthermore, planets that circle other stars are much too Galaxy would look like from a vantage point tens of thousands of
small, too faint, and too close to the glare of their star to be easily light years away? Astronomers use evidence to guide their expla-
visible. Astronomers have used indirect methods to detect thou- nations as they envision what our galaxy looks like. Artists can
sands of planets orbiting other stars, but only a few have been then use those scientific descriptions to create a painting. Many
photographed directly, and even those show up as nothing more images in this book are artists’ renderings of objects and events
than faint points of light. that are too big or too dim to see clearly, emit energy your eyes
Figure 1-9 follows the astronomical custom of making the
sizes of the dots represent not the sizes of the stars but their
brightnesses. This is how star images are recorded on photo-
graphs. Bright stars make larger spots on a photograph than faint
stars, so the size of a star image in a photograph tells you only
how bright the star is, not how big it is.
In Figure 1-10, you expand your field of view by another fac-
tor of 100, and the Sun and its neighboring stars vanish into the
background of thousands of other stars. The field of view is now
1700 ly in diameter. Of course, no one has ever journeyed thou-
sands of light-years from Earth to look back and photograph the
solar neighborhood, so this is a representative photograph of the
sky. The Sun is a relatively faint star that would not be easily
located in a photo at this scale.
Mark A. Garlick/space-art.co.uk
If you again expand your field of view by a factor of 100, Location of Sun
• and Earth
you see our galaxy, with a visible disk of stars about 80,000 ly
in diameter (Figure 1-11). A galaxy is a great cloud of stars, gas,
and dust held together by the combined gravity of all of its mat- Artist’s conception
ter. Galaxies range from 1500 to over 300,000 ly in diameter, and
the largest contain more than 1 trillion stars. In the night sky, you ▲ Figure 1-11 This box ■ represents the relative size of the
can see our galaxy as a great, cloudy ring of stars surrounding us. previous frame.
cannot detect, or happen too slowly or too rapidly for humans to
sense. These images are much better than mere guesses; they are
scientifically based illustrations guided by the best information
astronomers can gather. As you continue to explore, notice how
Based on data from M. Seldner et al. 1977, Astronomical Journal 82, 249.
astronomers use the methods of science to imagine, understand,
and depict cosmic events.
The artist’s conception of the Milky Way reproduced in
Figure 1-11 shows that our galaxy, like many others, has graceful
spiral arms winding outward through its disk. In a later chap-
ter, you will learn that the spiral arms are places where stars are
formed from clouds of gas and dust. Our Sun was born in one
of these spiral arms; if you could see it in this picture, it would
be in the disk of the galaxy about two-thirds of the way out from
the center, at about the location of the marker dot indicated in
the figure.
Ours is a fairly large galaxy. Only a century ago astronomers
thought it was the entire Universe—an island cloud of stars in ▲ Figure 1-13 This box ■ represents the relative size of the
an otherwise empty vastness. Now they know that our galaxy is previous frame.
not unique; it is only one of many billions of galaxies scattered
throughout the Universe.
You can see a few of these other galaxies when you expand System, and they sometimes confuse both terms with Universe.
your field of view by another factor of 100 (Figure 1-12). Our gal- Your cosmic zoom has shown you the difference. The Solar Sys-
axy appears as a tiny luminous speck surrounded by other specks tem is your local neighborhood, that is, the Sun and its planets,
in a region 17 million ly in diameter. Each speck represents a one planetary system. The Milky Way Galaxy contains our Solar
galaxy. Notice that our galaxy is part of a cluster of a few dozen System plus billions of other stars and whatever planets orbit
galaxies. Galaxies are commonly grouped together in such clus- around them—in other words, billions of planetary systems.
ters. Some galaxies have beautiful spiral patterns like our own The Universe includes everything: all of the galaxies, stars, and
galaxy, but others do not. Some are strangely distorted. In a later planets, including the Milky Way Galaxy and, a very small part
chapter, you will learn what produces these differences among of that, our Solar System.
the galaxies. If you expand your field of view one more time, you can
Now is a chance for you to spot another Common Mis- see that clusters of galaxies are connected in a vast network
conception. People often say Galaxy when they mean Solar (Figure 1-13). Clusters are grouped into superclusters—clusters
of clusters—and the superclusters are linked to form long fila-
ments and walls outlining nearly empty voids. These filaments
and walls appear to be the largest structures in the Universe.
Were you to expand your field of view another time, you would
probably see a uniform fog of filaments and walls. When you
puzzle over the origin of these structures, you are at the frontier
of human knowledge.
Milky Way Galaxy

1-2 When Is Now?
Now that you have an idea where you are in space, you might
also like to know where you are in time. Stars shone for billions
of years before the first human looked up and wondered what
they were.
To get a sense of your place in time, all you need is a long
ribbon. Imagine stretching that ribbon down the center of
a U.S. football field from goal line to goal line, a distance of
▲ Figure 1-12 This box ■ represents the relative size of the 100 yards (about 91 meters), as shown on the inside front
previous frame. cover of this book. Further, imagine that one end of the ribbon
6 PART 1 THE SKY
represents today and the other end represents the beginning of
the Universe—the moment of beginning that astronomers call the 1-3 Why Study Astronomy?
big bang. In a later chapter, “Modern Cosmology,” you will learn
about the big bang, and you will see evidence that the Universe Your exploration of the Universe will help you answer two fun-
is approximately 14 billion years old. Your ribbon represents 14 damental questions:
billion years, the entire history of the Universe. What are we?
Imagine beginning at the goal line labeled BIG BANG and How do we know?
replaying the entire history of the Universe as you walk along
the ribbon toward the goal line labeled TODAY. Astronomers The question “What are we?” is the first organizing theme
have evidence that the big bang filled the entire Universe with of this book. Astronomy is important to you because it will
hot, glowing gas, but as the gas cooled and dimmed the Uni- tell you what you are. Notice that the question is not “Who
verse went dark. All that happened along the first half inch of are we?” If you want to know who we are, you may want to
the ribbon. There was no light for the next 400 million years, talk to a psychologist, sociologist, theologian, paleontologist,
until gravity was able to pull some of the gas together to form artist, or poet. “What
What are we?” is a fundamentally different
the first stars. That seems like a lot of years, but if you stick a question.
little flag beside the ribbon to mark the birth of the first stars, As you study astronomy, you will learn how you fit into the
it would be not quite 3 yards from the goal line where the Uni- history of the Universe. You will learn that the atoms in your
verse began. body had their first birthday in the big bang when the Universe
You have to walk only about 4 or 5 yards along the rib- began. Those atoms have been cooked and remade inside gen-
bon before galaxies formed in large numbers. Our home galaxy erations of stars, and now, after billions of years, they are inside
would be one of those taking shape. By the time you cross the you. Where will they be in another 10 billion years? This is a
50-yard line, the Universe is full of galaxies, but the Sun and story everyone should know, and astronomy is the only course
Earth have not formed yet. You need to walk past the 50-yard on campus that can tell you that story.
line all the way to the other 33-yard line before you can finally Every chapter in this book ends with a short segment titled
stick a flag beside the ribbon to mark the formation of the Sun “What Are We?” This summary shows how the astronomy in the
and planets—our Solar System— 4.6 billion years ago and about chapter relates to your role in the story of the Universe.
9 billion years after the big bang. The question “How do we know?” is the second organiz-
You can carry your flags a few yards further to about the ing theme of this book. It is a question you should ask yourself
25-yard line, 3.4 billion years ago, to mark the earliest firm evi- whenever you encounter statements made by so-called experts in
dence for life on Earth—microscopic creatures in the oceans— any field. Should you swallow a diet supplement recommended
and you have to walk all the way to the 3-yard line before by a TV star? Should you vote for a candidate who warns of a
you can mark the emergence of life on land only 0.4 billion climate crisis? To understand the world around you and to make
(400 million) years ago. Your dinosaur flag goes inside the wise decisions for yourself, for your family, and for your nation,
2-yard line. Dinosaurs go extinct as you pass the one-half-yard you need to understand how science works.
line, 65 million years ago. You can use astronomy as a case study in science. Through-
What about people? You can put a little flag for the first out this book, you will find short essays titled “How Do We
humanlike creatures, 4 million years ago, only about 1 inch Know?” and “Practicing Science.” These essays are designed
(2.5 cm) from the goal line labeled TODAY. Civilization, the to help you think not about only what is known, but how it
building of cities, began about 10,000 years ago, so you have is known. To do that, they will explain a variety of scientific
to try to fit that flag in only 0.0026 inches (0.066 millimeter) thought processes and procedures to help you understand how
from the goal line. That’s less than the thickness of the page you scientists know about the natural world.
are reading right now. Compare the history of human civiliza- Over the last four centuries, scientists have developed a way
tion with the history of the Universe. Every war you have ever to understand nature by comparing hypotheses with evidence,
heard of, the life of every person whose name is recorded, and a process that has been called the scientific method (How Do
the construction of every structure ever made from Stonehenge We Know? 1-1). As you read about exploding stars, colliding gal-
to the building you are in right now fits into that final 0.0026 axies, and alien planets in the following chapters, you will see
inches of the time ribbon. astronomers using the scientific method over and over. The Uni-
Humanity is very new to the Universe. Our civilization on verse is very big, but it is described by a small set of rules, and
Earth has existed for only a flicker of an eyeblink in the history we humans have found a way to figure out the rules by using a
of the Universe. As you will discover in the chapters that follow, method called science. See What Are We? 1.
only in the last hundred years or so have astronomers begun to
understand where we are in space and in time.
How Do We Know? 1-1
The Scientific Method
How do scientists learn about nature? You For example, Gregor Mendel (1822–1884) discuss a new idea, other times spending
have probably heard several times during was an Austrian abbot who liked plants. He years studying a single promising hypothesis.
your education about the scientific method formed a hypothesis that offspring usually inherit The scientific method is, in fact, a com-
as the process by which scientists form traits from their parents not as a smooth blend, bination of many ways of analyzing informa-
hypotheses and test them against evidence as most scientists of the time believed, but in tion, finding relationships, and creating new
gathered by experiments and observations. discrete units according to strict mathematical ideas, in order to know and understand
That is an oversimplification of the subtle and rules. Mendel cultivated and tested more than nature. The “How Do We Know?” essays in
complex ways that scientists actually work. 28,000 pea plants, noting which produced the chapters that follow will introduce you to
Scientists use the scientific method all the smooth peas and which produced wrinkled some of those techniques.
time, and it is critically important, but they peas and how that trait was inherited by suc-
rarely think of it while they are doing it, any cessive generations (See Figure UN 1-1). His
more than you think about the details of what study of pea plants confirmed his hypothesis
you are doing while you are riding a bicycle. and allowed the development of a series of laws
Inspirestock/Jupiterimages/Getty Images
It is such an ingrained way of thinking about of inheritance. Although the importance of his
and understanding nature that it is almost work was not recognized in his lifetime, Mendel
transparent to the people who use it most. is now called the “father of modern genetics.”
Scientists try to form hypotheses that The scientific method is not a simple,
explain how nature works. If a hypothesis is mechanical way of grinding facts into
contradicted by evidence from experiments or understanding; a scientist needs insight
observations, it must be revised or discarded. and ingenuity both to form and to test good
If a hypothesis is confirmed, it still must be hypotheses. Scientists use the scientific
tested further. In that very general way, the method almost automatically, sometimes
scientific method is a way of testing and refin- forming, testing, revising, and discard- ▲ Figure UN 1-1 Whether peas are wrinkled or
ing ideas to better describe how nature works. ing hypotheses minute by minute as they smooth is an inherited trait.
What Are We? 1 Participants

Astronomy will give you perspective on what it means to be here Gravity and atoms work together to make stars, light the
on Earth. This chapter has helped you locate yourself in space Universe, generate energy, and create the chemical elements
and time. Once you realize how vast our Universe is, Earth seems in your body. The chapters that follow will show how you fit into
quite small. People on the other side of the world seem like those cosmic processes.
neighbors. And, in the entire history of the Universe, the human Although you are very small and your kind have existed in
story is only the blink of an eye. This may seem humbling at first, the Universe for only a short time, you are an important part of
but you can be proud of how much we humans have understood something very large and very beautiful.
in such a short time.
Not only does astronomy locate you in space and time, it
places you in the physical processes that govern the Universe.
8 PART 1 THE SKY
Study and Review
Summary ▶ Although astronomy seems to be about stars and planets, it

describes the Universe in which you live, so it is really about you.
▶ You surveyed the Universe by taking a cosmic zoom in which Astronomy helps you answer the question “What are we?”
each field of view was 100 times wider than the previous field ▶ As you study astronomy, you should ask “How do we know?” and
of view. that will help you understand how science gives us a way to
▶ Astronomers use the metric system because it simplifies calcula- understand nature.
tions and use scientific notation for very large or very small ▶ In its simplest outline, science follows the scientific method, by
numbers. which scientists test hypotheses against evidence from experi-
▶ You live on a planet, Earth, which orbits our star, the Sun, once a ments and observations. This method is a powerful way to learn
year. As Earth rotates once a day, you see the Sun rise and set. about nature.
▶ The Moon is only one-fourth the diameter of Earth, but the Sun is
about 100 times larger in diameter than Earth—a typical size for a
star. Review Questions
▶ The Solar System includes the Sun at the center, all of the planets 1. What is the largest dimension of which you have personal knowl-
that orbit around it—Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, edge? Have you run a mile? Hiked 10 miles? Run a marathon?
Uranus, and Neptune—plus the moons of the planets and all other 2. What is the difference between our Solar System, our galaxy, and
objects bound to the Sun by its gravity. the Universe?
▶ The astronomical unit (AU) is the average distance from Earth to 3. Why are light-years more convenient than miles, kilometers, or
the Sun. Mars, for example, orbits 1.5 AU from the Sun. The light- astronomical units for measuring certain distances?
year (ly) is the distance light can travel in one year. The nearest 4. Why is it difficult to detect planets orbiting other stars?
star is 4.2 ly from the Sun. 5. What does the size of the star image in a photograph tell you?
▶ Many stars seem to have planets, but such small, distant worlds 6. What is the difference between the Milky Way and the Milky Way
are difficult to detect. Nevertheless, thousands have been found Galaxy?
after almost 30 years of searching by astronomers. So far only a 7. What are the largest known structures in the Universe?
few of those planets have been determined to be Earth-like in
terms of size and temperature. 8. How does astronomy help answer the question “What are we?”
9. How Do We Know? How does the scientific method give scientists a
▶ The Milky Way, the hazy band of light that encircles the sky, is the
way to know about nature?
Milky Way Galaxy seen from inside. The Sun is just one out of the
billions of stars that fill the Milky Way Galaxy.
▶ Galaxies contain many billions of stars. Our galaxy is about Discussion Questions
80,000 ly in diameter and contains over 100 billion stars.
1. You and three of your friends have won an all-expenses paid
▶ Some galaxies, including our own, have graceful spiral arms bright one-time-only round-trip first-class vacation to anywhere in the
with stars, but some galaxies are plain clouds of stars. Universe, so long as the choice of destination is unanimous.
▶ The Solar System consists of the Sun plus eight planets, including Where do you want to go, and how do you convince your friends
Earth. Our galaxy contains our Solar System plus billions of other to agree?
stars and whatever planets orbit around them. The Universe 2. Think back to the last time you got a new phone and had to figure
includes everything that there is: billions of galaxies, each out how it worked. In what way did you employ the scientific
containing billions of stars and, presumably, billions of planetary method, maybe without even realizing that you did?
systems.
▶ Our galaxy is just one of billions of galaxies that fill the Universe
in great clusters, clouds, filaments, and walls—the largest struc- Problems
tures in the Universe.
1. The diameter of Earth across the equator is 7928 miles. If a mile
▶ The Universe began about 14 billion years ago in an event called equals 1.609 km, what is Earth’s diameter in kilometers? In
the big bang, which filled the Universe with hot gas. centimeters?
▶ The hot gas cooled, the first galaxies began to form, and stars 2. The diameter of the Moon across its equator is 3476 kilometers.
began to shine only about 400 million years after the big bang. If a kilometer equals 0.6214 miles, what is the Moon’s diameter
▶ The Sun and planets of our Solar System formed about 4.6 billion in miles?
years ago. 3. One astronomical unit is about 1.50 3 108 km. Explain why this
▶ Life began in Earth’s oceans soon after Earth formed but did not is the same as 150 3 106 km.
emerge onto land until only 400 million years ago. Dinosaurs 4. Venus orbits 0.72 AU from the Sun. What is that distance in
evolved not long ago and went extinct only 65 million kilometers? (Hint: See Problem 3.)
years ago. 5. Light from the Sun takes 8 minutes to reach Earth. How long does
▶ Humanlike creatures developed on Earth only about 4 million it take to reach Mars?
years ago, and human civilizations developed only about 6. The Sun is almost 400 times farther from Earth than is the Moon.
10,000 years ago. How long does light from the Moon take to reach Earth?
7. If the speed of light is 3.00 3 105 km/s, how many kilometers 4. In the photograph in Figure UN 1-3, which stars are brightest,
is 1 light-year? How many meters? (Note: One year contains and which are faintest? How can you tell? Why can’t you tell
3.16 3 107 s.) which stars in this photograph are biggest or which have planets?
8. How long does it take light to cross the diameter of our Milky Way
Galaxy?
9. The nearest large galaxy to our own is about 2.5 million
light-years away. How many meters is that?
10. How many galaxies like our own would it take laid edge-to-edge to
reach the nearest galaxy? (Hint: See Problem 9.)
Learning to Look
1. In Figure 1-4, the division between daylight and darkness is at the
NSF/AURA/NOAO
right on the globe of Earth. How do you know this is the sunset
line and not the sunrise line?
2. Look at Figure 1-6. How can you tell that Mercury does not follow a
circular orbit?
3. Of the objects listed here, ▲ Figure UN 1-3
which would be contained
inside the object shown in
Figure UN 1-2? Which would
contain the object in the photo?
stars
planets
galaxy clusters
filaments
NOAO/AURA/NSF/Bill Schoening
spiral arms
▲ Figure UN 1-2
10 PART 1 THE SKY
Guidepost
A User’s Guide to the Sky
The previous chapter took you on a cosmic An astronomer observing the sky is shown in the photo
2
zoom through space and time. That quick preview set the in CO2.
stage for the drama to come. In this chapter, you restart your
explorations by viewing the sky from Earth with your own
unaided eyes. As you do, consider three important questions:
▶ How are stars and constellations named?
▶ How are the brightnesses of stars measured and

The Southern Cross I saw every night abeam.
compared?
▶ How does the sky appear to move as Earth rotates? The sun every morning came up astern; every
As you study the sky and its apparent daily motion, you will
evening it went down ahead. I wished for no other
understand that Earth is a planet rotating on its axis. The next compass to guide me, for these were true.
chapter will introduce you to celestial cycles caused by the C A P T A I N J O S H U A S L O C U M
monthly revolution of the Moon around Earth and the yearly SAI LI NG A LONE AROU ND TH E W OR L D
revolution of Earth around the Sun.
Science Source/Getty Images
CO2 A long-exposure photograph of the Milky Way, the planet Jupiter

(bright object at upper right), and the constellation Scorpius.
11
T
he night sky is the rest of the Universe as seen from our Greek astronomers. Of these ancient constellations, 48 are still
planet. When you look up at the stars, you are looking in use.
out through a layer of air only a little more than a hun- Originally, constellations were only loosely defined group-
dred kilometers deep. Beyond that, space is nearly empty, and ings of stars. Many of the fainter stars were not included in any
the stars are scattered light-years apart. constellation, and the stars of the southern sky not visible to
As you read this chapter, keep in mind that you live on a the ancient astronomers of northern latitudes were not grouped
planet in the midst of these scattered stars. Because Earth turns into constellations. Constellation boundaries, when they were
on its axis once a day, the sky appears to revolve around you in a defined at all, were only approximate ( Figure 2-2a), so a star
daily cycle. Not only does the Sun rise in the eastern part of the like Alpheratz could be thought of as part of Pegasus or part
sky and set in the western part, but so do the stars. of Andromeda. To correct these gaps and ambiguities, astrono-
mers have added 40 modern constellations, and in 1928 the
International Astronomical Union established 88 official con-
2-1 The Stars stellations with clearly defined boundaries (Figure 2-2b). Con-
sequently, a constellation now represents not a group of stars
On a dark night far from city lights, you can see a few thou- but an area of the sky, and any star within the region belongs to
sand stars. Long ago, humans organized what they saw by nam- one and only one constellation. Now Alpheratz belongs only to
ing stars and groups of stars. Some of those names are still used Andromeda.
today. In addition to the 88 official constellations, the sky con-
tains a number of less formally defined groupings called aster-
Constellations isms. The Big Dipper, for example, is a well-known asterism
All around the world, ancient cultures celebrated heroes, gods, that is part of the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear).
and mythical beasts by giving their names to groups of stars— Another asterism is the Great Square of Pegasus (Figure 2-2b),
constellations (Figure 2-1). You should not be surprised that which includes three stars from Pegasus plus Alpheratz from
the star patterns generally do not look like the creatures they Andromeda. The star charts at the end of this book will intro-
represent any more than Columbus, Ohio, looks like Christo- duce you to the brighter constellations and asterisms.
pher Columbus. The constellations simply celebrate the most Although constellations and asterisms are groups of stars
important mythical figures in each culture. The oldest constel- that appear close together in the sky, it is important to remember
lations named in Western cultures originated in Assyria over that most are made up of stars that are not physically associated
3000 years ago, and others were added later by Babylonian and with one another. Some stars may be many times farther away
Figure 2-1 The constellations are an ancient

▲
heritage handed down for thousands of years as

celebrations of mythical heroes and monsters.
Here Sagittarius and Scorpius hang above the
southern horizon.
12 PART 1 THE SKY
Constellation boundaries were
only approximate prior to 1928.
From Duncan Bradford, Wonders of the Heavens (Boston:

John B. Russell, 1837).
a
Andromeda
Alpheratz
Pegasus
Figure 2-2 (a) In antiquity, constellation boundaries
▲
were poorly defined, as shown on this map by the curving
dotted lines that separate Pegasus from Andromeda.
Great Square (b) Modern constellation boundaries are precisely defined
b of Pegasus by international scientific agreement.
than others and moving through space in different directions. star in the sky or to its brightness. A more useful way to iden-
The only thing they have in common is that they happen to lie tify stars is to assign letters to the bright stars in a constellation
in approximately the same direction from Earth (Figure 2-3). in approximate order of brightness. Astronomers use the Greek
alphabet for this purpose. Thus, the brightest star in a constella-
tion is usually designated alpha, the second brightest beta, and
Star Names so on. Often the name of the Greek letter is spelled out, as in
In addition to naming groups of stars, ancient astronomers gave “Alpha,” but sometimes the actual Greek letter is used, espe-
names to the brightest individual stars. Modern astronomers cially in charts. You will find the Greek alphabet in Appendix A
still use many of those ancient names. Although the constella- Table A-13. For many constellations, the letters follow the order
tion names came from Greek translated into Latin—the lan- of brightness, but some constellations, because of tradition,
guage of science until the 19th century—most star names come mistake, or the personal preferences of early chart makers, are
from ancient Arabic, much altered by the passing centuries. exceptions (Figure 2-4).
For example, the name of Betelgeuse, the bright orange star in To identify a star by its Greek-letter designation, you would
Orion, comes from the Arabic yad al-jawza, meaning “Hand of give the Greek letter followed by the possessive form of the con-
Jawza (Orion).” Names such as Sirius (“Scorcher”) and Aldeba- stellation name; for example, the brightest star in the constel-
ran (“The Follower [of the Pleiades]”) are beautiful additions to lation Canis Major is Alpha Canis Majoris, which can also be
the mythology of the sky. written a Canis Majoris. This both identifies the star and the
Naming individual stars is not very helpful because you can constellation and gives a clue to the relative brightness of the
see thousands of them. How many names could you remember? star. Compare this with the ancient name for this star, Sirius,
Also, a simple name gives you no clues to the location of the which does not give you any information about its properties.
Chapter 2 A USER’S GUIDE TO THE SKY 13
Figure 2-3 You see the Big Dipper in the sky because you are looking
▲
through a group of stars scattered through space at different distances from
sky Earth. You see them as if they were projected on a screen, and they form
on the
p rojected the shape of the Dipper.
rs
Sta
Famous Stars
It is fun to know the names of the brighter stars, but they are
more than points of light in the sky. They are glowing spheres
of gas much like the Sun, each with its unique characteristics.
Figure 2-5 identifies eight bright stars that you can adopt as
Famous Stars. As you study astronomy you will discover their
peculiar personalities and enjoy finding them in the evening sky.
You will learn, for example, that Betelgeuse is not just an orange
point of light but is an aging, cool star over 800 times larger than
Nearest Farthest star the Sun. As you learn more in later chapters, you may want to
star
add more Famous Stars to your list.
Actual distribution You can use the star charts at the end of this book to help
of stars in space you locate these Famous Stars. You can see Polaris year round, but
Sirius, Betelgeuse, Rigel, and Aldebaran are only in the winter sky.
Earth Spica is a summer star, and Vega is visible evenings in later sum-
mer and fall. Alpha Centauri, only 4.4 ly away, is the nearest star
to the Sun, but you will have to travel to the latitude of south
Florida to glimpse it above the southern horizon.
Figure 2-4 The stars in Orion do
▲
not quite follow the rule for assigning
Greek letters in order of decreasing
brightness. For example, β (Beta) is
brighter than α (Alpha), and κ (Kappa)
is brighter than η (Eta). Fainter stars
λ do not have Greek letters or names, but
if they are located inside the constel-
α
lation boundaries, they are part of the
constellation. The brighter stars in a
γ
constellation often also have individual
α Orionis is names derived from Arabic. (The spikes
also known as on the star images in the photograph
Orion
Orion Betelgeuse. were produced by an optical effect in
the telescope.)
δ
ζ ε
η
ι
τ
κ β
β Orionis is also
known as Rigel.
Willliam Hartmann
Visual
14 PART 1 THE SKY
Figure 2-5 Famous Stars:
▲
Sirius Alpha Canis Majoris Brightest star in the sky Winter
Locate these bright stars in the
Betelgeuse Alpha Orionis Bright red star in Orion Winter
sky and learn about their inter-
Rigel Beta Orionis Bright blue star in Orion Winter esting characteristics.
Aldebaran Alpha Tauri Red eye of Taurus the Bull Winter
Polaris Alpha Ursae Minoris The North Star Year round
Vega Alpha Lyrae Brightest star in summer sky Summer
Spica Alpha Virginis Bright southern star Summer
Rigil Kentaurus Alpha Centauri Nearest bright star to the Sun Spring, far south
Taurus
Centaurus
Aldebaran
Betelgeuse
Orion
Alpha Crux
Rigel Centauri
Sirius
Southern
Canis Cross
Major
Little
Virgo
Dipper Polaris
Vega Big
Dipper
Cygnus
Lyra
Spica
Star Brightness Thus, the larger the magnitude number, the fainter the star. This
makes sense if you think of the bright stars as first-class stars and
Astronomers usually describe the brightness of stars using
the faintest visible stars as sixth-class stars.
the magnitude scale, a system that first appeared in the writ-
Ancient astronomers could only estimate magnitudes, but
ing of Claudius Ptolemaeus (pronounced TAHL-eh-MAY-us;
modern astronomers can measure the brightness of stars to
also known as Ptolemy, pronounced TAHL-eh-mee) about the
high precision, so they have carefully redefined the magnitude
year 140. The system probably originated even earlier, and most
scale. Instead of saying that the star known by the charming
astronomers attribute it to the Greek astronomer Hipparchus
name Chort (Theta Leonis) is third magnitude, they can say its
(about 190–120 bce). Hipparchus compiled the first known star
magnitude is 3.34. Accurate measurements show that some stars
catalog, and he may have used the magnitude system in that cat-
are actually brighter than magnitude 1.0. For example, Famous
alog. Almost 300 years later, Ptolemy used the magnitude system
Star Vega (Alpha Lyrae) is so bright that its magnitude, 0.03, is
in his own catalog, and successive generations of astronomers
almost zero. A few are so bright that the modern magnitude scale
have continued to use the system.
must extend into negative numbers (Figure 2-6). On this scale,
Those early astronomers divided the stars into six classes.
Famous Star Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, has a magnitude
The brightest were called first-magnitude stars and those that
of –1.46. Modern astronomers have had to extend the faint end
were fainter, second-magnitude. The scale continued down to
of the magnitude scale as well. The faintest stars you can see with
sixth-magnitude stars, the faintest visible to the human eye.
Figure 2-6 The scale of apparent visual magnitudes extends
▲
Venus at Hubble
into negative numbers to represent the brightest objects and to
brightest Space
positive numbers larger than 6 to represent objects fainter than
Telescope
Sirius the human eye can see.
limit
Full
Sun moon Polaris
Naked
eye limit
–30 –25 –20 –15 –10 –5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Apparent magnitude (mv)
Brighter Fainter
your unaided eyes are about sixth magnitude, but if you use a you only how bright the star looks as seen from Earth, not about
telescope, you will see stars much fainter. Astronomers must use its actual light output.
magnitude numbers larger than 6 to describe such faint stars. Your interpretation of brightness is quite subjective, depend-
T h e s e n u m b e r s a re k n ow n a s a p p a re n t v i s u a l ing on both the physiology of human eyes and the psychology
magnitudes(m V ), and they describe how the stars look to of perception. To be accurate you should refer to flux—the
human eyes observing from Earth. Although some stars emit amount of light energy that hits one square meter in one second.
large amounts of infrared or ultraviolet light, human eyes can’t This makes a precise definition of brightness. A simple relation-
see those types of radiation, and they are not included in the ship connects apparent visual magnitudes and flux (brightness)
apparent visual magnitude. The subscript “V” stands for “visual” (Reasoning with Numbers 2-1). In this way, modern astronomers
and reminds you that only visible light is included. Apparent can measure the brightness of stars to high precision while still
visual magnitude also does not take into account the distance to making comparisons to observations of apparent visual magni-
the stars. In other words, a star’s apparent visual magnitude tells tude that go back to the time of Hipparchus.
Reasoning with Numbers 2-1

Magnitudes
TABLE 2-1 Magnitude Differences and Flux Ratios
Astronomers use a simple formula to convert between magni-
tudes and fluxes (brightness). If two stars have fluxes FA and
Magnitude Difference Corresponding Flux Ratio
FB, then the ratio of their fluxes is FA/F
FB. Modern astrono-
mers have defined the magnitude scale so two stars that differ 0 .0 0 1 .0 0
by five magnitudes have a flux ratio of exactly 100. Therefore, 1 .0 0 2 .5 1
two stars that differ by one magnitude must have a flux ratio 2 .0 0 6 .3 1
5 3 .0 0 1 5 .8
that equals the fifth root of 100, !100
! or 1000.2, which is
approximately 2.51—that is, the light arriving at Earth from 4 .0 0 3 9 .8
5 .0 0 1 0 0
one star must be about 2.51 times brighter than from the
6 .0 0 2 5 1
other. Two stars that differ by two magnitudes will have a flux
7 .0 0 6 3 1
ratio of 2.51 3 2.51, which is approximately 6.31, and so on
8 .0 0 1 5 8 0
(Table 2-1). 9 .0 0 3 9 8 0
1 0 .0 0 1 0 ,0 0 0
Example A: Suppose star C is third magnitude, and star D is
: :
ninth magnitude. What is their brightness ratio? Solution: The
: :
magnitude difference is six magnitudes, and Table 2-1 shows
1 5 .0 0 1 ,0 0 0 ,0 0 0
the corresponding flux ratio is 251. Therefore star C is 251
2 0 .0 0 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 ,0 0 0
times brighter (has 251 times as much flux arriving at Earth)
2 5 .0 0 1 0 ,0 0 0 ,0 0 0 ,0 0 0
than star D.
A table is convenient, but for more precision you can
express the relationship as a simple formula. The flux ratio
On the other hand, when you know the flux ratio and want
FA/FFB is equal to 2.51 raised to the power of the magnitude
to find the magnitude difference, it is convenient to rearrange
difference mB – mA:
the previous formula and write it as:
FA mB 2 mA 5 2.5 log 1 FA/F
FB 2
5 1 2.51 2 1mB 2mA2
FB
The expression log means logarithm to the base 10.
Example B: If the magnitude difference is 6.32 magni- Example C: The light from Sirius has 24.2 times as much
tudes, what is the flux ratio? Solution: The flux ratio must flux (is 24.2 times brighter than) light from Polaris. What
be 2.516.32. A pocket calculator tells you the answer: 336. is their magnitude difference? Solution: The magnitude dif dif-
The flux of light from star A is 336 times larger than the flux ference is 2.5 times the logarithm of 24.2, which is written
from star B. Note that, because of the way magnitudes are 2.5 log (24.2). Your calculator tells you the logarithm of 24.2
defined, star A has the larger flux and numerically smaller is 1.384, so the magnitude difference is 2.5 3 1.384, which
magnitude. equals 3.46 magnitudes.
16 PART 1 THE SKY
the celestial sphere and its apparent motions explain the chang-
2-2 The Sky and Its Motions ing appearance of the sky above you.
The celestial sphere is an example of a scientific model,
The sky above seems to be a great blue dome in the daytime a common feature of scientific thought ( How Do We Know?
and a sparkling ceiling at night. It was this ceiling that the first 2-1 ). Notice that a scientific model does not have to be true
astronomers observed long ago as they tried to understand the to be useful. You will encounter many scientific models in
night sky. the chapters that follow, and you will discover that some of
the most useful models are highly simplified descriptions of
The Celestial Sphere reality.
This is a good time to eliminate a couple of Common Miscon-
Ancient astronomers believed the sky was a great sphere sur- ceptions. Many people, without thinking about it much, assume
rounding Earth with the stars stuck on the inside like thumb- that the stars are not in the sky during the daytime. The stars
tacks in a ceiling. Modern astronomers know that the stars are actually there day and night; they are just invisible during
are scattered through space at different distances, but it is still the day because the sky is lit up by the Sun. Also, many people
convenient to think of the sky as a great starry sphere enclos- insist that Famous Star Polaris is the brightest star in the sky. It
ing Earth. is actually the 50th visually brightest star. You now know that
Concept Art 2A, “The Sky Around You,” takes you on an illus-
Polaris is important because of its position, not because of its
trated tour of the sky. Throughout this book, these two-page art brightness.
spreads introduce new concepts and new terms through photos In addition to causing the obvious daily motion of the sky,
and diagrams. Notice that Concept Art 2A introduces you to Earth’s rotation conceals a very slow celestial motion that can be
three important principles and 16 new terms that will help you detected only over centuries.
understand the sky:
1 The sky appears to rotate westward around Earth each day, Precession
but that is a consequence of the eastward rotation of Earth.
In addition to causing the obvious daily motion of the sky,
That rotation produces day and night. Notice how reference
Earth’s rotation is connected with a very slow celestial motion
points on the celestial sphere such as the zenith, nadir, hori-
that can be detected only over centuries. More than 2000
zon, celestial equator, and north celestial pole and south celes-
years ago, Hipparchus compared positions of some stars with
tial pole define the four directions, north point, south point,
their positions recorded nearly two centuries previously and
east point, and west point.
realized that the celestial poles and equator were slowly mov-
2 Astronomers measure angular distance across the sky as ing across the sky. Later astronomers understood that this
angles and express them as degrees, arc minutes, and arc sec- motion is caused by a toplike motion of Earth known as
onds. The same units are used to measure the angular diam- precession.
eter of an object. If you have ever played with a gyroscope or top, you have
3 What you can see in the sky depends on your latitude. seen how the spinning mass resists any sudden change in the
For example, if you lived in Australia, you could see many direction of its axis of rotation. The more massive the top
start, asterisms, and constellations invisible from North and the more rapidly it spins, the more it resists your efforts
America, but you would never see the Big Dipper. How to twist it out of position. You may recall that even the most
many circumpolar constellations you see depends on where rapidly spinning top slowly swings its axis around in a circle.
you are. Remember Famous Star Alpha Centauri? It is in The weight of the top tends to make it tip over, and this
the southern sky and isn’t visible from most of the United combines with its rapid rotation to make its axis sweep out
States. You can just glimpse it above the southern horizon the shape of a cone. That motion is precession (Figure 2-7a).
if you are in Miami, Florida, but you can see it easily from In later chapters, you will learn that many celestial bodies
Australia. precess.
Earth spins like a giant top, but it does not spin upright
Pay special attention to the new terms in Concept Art 2A. in its orbit; its axis is tipped 23.4 degrees from vertical. Earth’s
You need to know these terms to describe the sky and its large mass and rapid rotation keep its axis of rotation pointed
motions, but don’t fall into the trap of just memorizing new toward a spot near the star Polaris, and the axis would remain
terms. The goal of science is to understand nature, not to memo- pointed constantly in that direction except for the effect of
rize definitions. Study the diagrams and see how the geometry of precession.
Zenith
North
1
The eastward rotation of Earth causes the Sun, Moon, planets, celestial
and stars to move westward in the sky as if the celestial sphere pole
West
were rotating westward around Earth. From any location on Earth you
see only half of the celestial sphere, the half above the horizon. The
Cel
zenith marks the point of the celestial sphere directly above your head,
est
and the nadir marks the point of the celestial sphere directly under your South North
ial
Earth
eq
feet. The drawing at right shows the view for an observer in North n
Horizo
ua
America. An observer in South America would have a completely
tor
different
dif rent horizon, zenith, and nadir.
diffe East
The apparent pivot points are the north celestial pole and the South
south celestial pole located directly above Earth’s north and celestial
south poles. Halfway between the celestial poles lies the celestial pole
equator. Earth’s rotation defines the directions you use every day:
the north point and south point are the points on the horizon Nadir
closest to the celestial poles, and the east point and the west
point lie halfway between the north and south points. The celestial
equator always meets the horizon at the east and west points.
North
celestial
pole Ursa
Major
Ursa
Minor
Looking north
Gemini Orion
NSF/AURA/NOAO
Looking east
Canis
Major
This time exposure of about 30 minutes shows stars as streaks,

1a
called star trails, rising behind an observatory dome lit from below
by red night lights. The camera was facing northeast to take this photo. The Looking south
motion you see in the sky depends on which direction you look, as shown
at right. Looking north, you see Favorite Star Polaris (the North Star)
located near the north celestial pole. As the sky appears to rotate
westward, Polaris hardly moves, but other stars circle the celestial pole.
Looking south from a location in North America you can see stars circling
the south celestial pole, which is invisible below the southern horizon.
North celestial
Zenith pole
Astronomers measure
distance across the
sky as angles.
Latitude 90°
Angular distance
North
Zenith celestial
pole
2 Astronomers might say, “The star was two degrees from the Moon.” Of W
course, the stars are much farther away than the Moon, but when you think
of the celestial sphere, and pretend that all celestial objects are attached to it, you S N
can measure distance on the sky as an angle. The angular distance between
two objects is the angle between two lines extending from your eye to the two Latitude 60° E
objects. Astronomers measure angles in degrees, arc minutes that are 1/60th of
a degree, and arc seconds that are1/60th of an arc minute. Using the term arc North
avoids confusion with minutes and seconds of time. The angular diameter of an Zenith celestial
object is the angular distance from one edge to the other. The Sun and Moon are pole
each about half a degree in diameter, and the bowl of the Big Dipper is about 10
W
degrees wide.
L
S N
3 What you see in the sky depends on your latitude, as shown at right. Imagine that you
begin a journey in the ice and snow at Earth’s North Pole with the north celestial pole
Latitude 30° E
North
directly overhead. As you walk southward, the celestial pole moves toward the horizon, and
Zenith celestial
you can see further into the southern sky. The angular distance (L) from the horizon to the pole
north celestial pole shown in the middle panel always equals your latitude—an important
basis for celestial navigation. As you cross Earth’s equator, the celestial equator would pass W
through your zenith, and the north celestial pole would sink below your northern horizon.
S N
A few circumpolar Cassiopeia Latitude 0° E

constellations
South
celestial Zenith
pole
Cepheus Perseus
W
S N
Apparent Apparent
rotation Polaris rotation Latitude –30°
of sky of sky
Ursa Circumpolar constellations are those that never rise
3a
Minor or set. From mid-northern latitudes, as shown at left,
you see a number of familiar constellations circling Polaris
and never dipping below the horizon. As Earth turns and the
sky appears to rotate, the pointer stars at the front of the Big
Dipper always point approximately toward Polaris.
Ursa Circumpolar constellations near the south celestial pole
Major never rise as seen from mid-northern latitudes. From a high
northern latitude location such as Norway (second panel
from top), you would have more circumpolar constellations,
and from Quito, Ecuador, located on Earth’s equator (second
panel from bottom), you would have no circumpolar
constellations at all.
How Do We Know? 2-1
Scientific Models
How can a scientific model be useful if it isn’t help scientists think productively about DNA
entirely true? A scientific model is a carefully molecules.
devised conception of how something works, A scientific model is not a statement of
a framework that helps scientists think about truth; it does not have to be precisely correct
some aspect of nature, just as the celestial to be useful. In an idealized model, some
sphere helps astronomers think about the complex aspects of nature can be simplified
motions of the sky. or omitted. The ball-and-stick model of a
Chemists, for example, use colored balls molecule doesn’t show the relative strength
to represent atoms and sticks to represent of the chemical bonds, for instance. A
the bonds between them, kind of like model gives scientists a way to think about
Tinkertoys. Using these molecular models, some aspect of nature but need not be true
chemists can see the three-dimensional in every detail.
shape of molecules and understand how the When you use a scientific model, it is
atoms interconnect. important to remember the limitations of
The molecular model of DNA proposed that model. If you begin to think of a model
by Watson and Crick in 1953 led to our as true, it can be misleading instead of
modern understanding of the mechanisms helpful. The celestial sphere, for instance,
of genetics. You have probably seen elabo- can help you think about the sky, but you
rate ball-and-stick models of DNA (see must remember that it is only a model. The
Figure UN 2-1), but does the molecule really Universe is much larger and much more
look like Tinkertoys? No, but the model is interesting than this ancient scientific model
both simple enough and accurate enough to of the heavens.
John Harwood/Photodisc/Getty Images

▲ Figure UN 2-1 Balls represent atoms and rods repre-
sent chemical bonds in this model of a DNA molecule.
Earth has a slight bulge around its middle because of its at all from night to night or year to year, but precise mea-
rotation. The gravity of the Sun and Moon pull on the bulge, surements can reveal the slow precession of the celestial
tending to twist Earth’s axis “upright” relative to its orbit. If poles and the resulting change in orientation of the celestial
Earth were a perfect sphere, it would not be subjected to this equator.
twisting force. Notice that the analogy to a spinning top is not Over centuries, precession has significant effects.
perfect; gravity tends to make a top fall over, but it tends to twist Egyptian records show that 4800 years ago the north celestial
Earth upright. In both cases, the twisting of the axis of rotation pole was near the star Thuban (Alpha Draconis). The
combined with the rotation of the object causes precession. The pole is now approaching Polaris and will be closest to it in
precession of Earth’s axis takes about 26,000 years for one cycle approximately the year 2100. In about 12,000 years, the pole
(Figure 2-7b). will have moved to within 5° of Vega (Alpha Lyrae). Figure 2-7c
Because the locations of the celestial poles and equa- shows the path followed by the north celestial pole. Next time
tor are defined by Earth’s rotational axis, precession slowly you glance at Famous Star Vega, remind yourself that it will
moves these reference marks. You would notice no change someday be a very impressive north star. See What Are We? 2.
20 PART 1 THE SKY
To Polaris
23.4°
Precession Vega
Precession
ati on 14,000 CE
Rot
Earth’s Thuban
orbit Path of
north
celestial
a b 3000 BCE pole
▲ Figure 2-7 Precession. (a) The rotation axis of a spinning top

precesses in a conical motion around the perpendicular to the floor
because its weight tends to make it fall over. (b) Earth’s axis pre-
cesses around the perpendicular to its orbit because the gravity of
the Sun and Moon acting on Earth’s equatorial bulge tend to twist Polaris
it “upright.” (c) Precession causes the north celestial pole to move c
slowly among the stars, completing a circle in about 26,000 years.
What Are We? 2 Along for the Ride

We humans are planet-walkers. We live on the surface of a whirl- world, nearly all locate their gods and goddesses in the heavens.
ing planet, and as we look out into the depths of the Universe we The gods watch over us from their remote and powerful thrones
see the scattered stars near us. Because our planet spins, the stars among the stars.
appear to move westward across the sky in a continuous march. Our days are filled with necessary trivia, but astronomy
The sky is a symbol of remoteness, order, and power, and enriches our lives by fitting us into the continuity of life on
that may be why so many cultures worship the sky in one way or Earth. As you rush to an evening meeting, a glance at the sky
another. Every culture divides up the star patterns to represent will remind you that the sky carries our human heritage. Jesus,
their heroes, gods, and symbolic creatures. Hercules looked Moses, and Muhammad saw the same stars that you see.
down on the ancient Greeks, and the same stars represent the Aristotle watched the stars of Orion rise in the east and set in the
protector Båakkaataxpitchee (Bear Above) to the Crow people west just as you do. Astronomy helps us understand what we are
of North America. Among the hundreds of religions around the by linking us to the past of human experience on this planet.
Study and Review
Summary ▶ Astronomers refer to the brightness of stars using the magnitude

scale. First-magnitude stars are brighter than second-magnitude
▶ Astronomers divide the sky into 88 constellations with modern stars, which are brighter than third-magnitude stars, and so on.
boundaries defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The magnitude you see when you look at a star in the sky is its
Although the constellations originated in Middle Eastern and Greek apparent visual magnitude, mv, which includes only types of light
mythology, the names are Latin. Named groups of stars that are not visible to the human eye and does not take into account the star’s
constellations are called asterisms. distance from Earth.
▶ The names of stars usually come from ancient Arabic, though ▶ Flux is the amount of light energy that hits one square meter per
modern astronomers often refer to a star by its constellation and a second, a rigorous definition of brightness. The magnitude of a
Greek letter assigned according to its brightness within the star is related mathematically to the flux of light received on Earth
constellation. from the star, in other words, the star’s brightness.
▶ The celestial sphere is a scientific model of the sky, to which the 11. Where would you go on Earth if you wanted to be able to see both
stars appear to be attached. Because Earth rotates eastward, the the north celestial pole and the south celestial pole at the same
celestial sphere appears to rotate westward on its axis. time?
▶ The north and south celestial poles are the pivots on which the sky 12. Where would you go on Earth to have a celestial pole at your zenith?
appears to rotate, and they define the four directions around the 13. Explain how to make a simple astronomical observation that would
horizon: the north, south, east, and west points. The point directly determine your latitude.
overhead is the zenith, and the point on the sky directly underfoot 14. Why does the number of circumpolar constellations depend on the
is the nadir. latitude of the observer?
▶ The celestial equator, an imaginary line around the sky above 15. How could you detect Earth’s precession by examining star charts
Earth’s equator, divides the sky into northern and southern halves. from ancient Egypt?
▶ Astronomers often refer to distances “on” the sky as if the stars, 16. How Do We Know? How can a scientific model be useful if it isn’t a
Sun, Moon, and planets were equivalent to spots painted on a correct description of nature?
plaster ceiling. These angular distances, measured in degrees, arc
minutes, and arc seconds, are unrelated to the true distance
between the objects in light-years. The angular distance across an Discussion Questions
object is its angular diameter.
1. Using stars from one or more of the “official” constellations,
▶ What you see of the celestial sphere depends on your latitude. create an asterism that is significant to the culture of your school.
Much of the Southern Hemisphere of the sky is not visible from
2. You discover an ancient document that lists the location of buried
northern latitudes. T
To see that part of the sky, you would have to
treasure as 36° 24' 11.9" N by 25° 25' 35.4"E. You look on a map
travel southward over Earth’s surface. Circumpolar constellations
to see approximately where that is, but when you start on your trip
are those close enough to a celestial pole that they do not rise
you find that your GPS is broken. How will you know when you’re
or set from a given location.
at the right latitude? Much harder question: How will you know
▶ The angular distance from the horizon to the north celestial pole when you’re at the right longitude?
always equals your latitude. This is a basis for celestial navigation.
Precession is caused by the gravitational forces of the Moon and
Problems
▶
Sun acting on the equatorial bulge of the spinning Earth and
causing its axis to sweep around in a conical motion like the 1. If light from one star is 40 times brighter (has 40 times more flux)
motion of a top’s axis. Earth’s axis of rotation precesses with a than light from another star, what is their difference in
period of 26,000 years. Consequently, the celestial poles and magnitudes?
celestial equator move slowly against the background of the stars.
2. If two stars differ by 8.6 magnitudes, what is their flux ratio?
3. Star A has a magnitude of 2.5; star B, 5.5; and star C, 9.5. Which
Review Questions is brightest? Which are visible to the unaided eye? Which pair of
stars has a flux ratio of 16?
1. Why have astronomers added modern constellations to the sky? 4. By what factor is sunlight brighter than moonlight? (Hint: See
2. What is the difference between an asterism and a constellation? Figure 2-6 and T Table 2-1.)
Give some examples. 5. If you are at a latitude of 35º north of Earth’s equator, what is
3. What characteristic do stars in a constellation or asterism share? the angular distance from the northern horizon up to the north
4. Do people from other cultures on Earth see the same stars, constel- celestial pole? From the southern horizon down to the south
lations, and asterisms that you see? celestial pole?
5. How does the Greek-letter designation of a star give you a clue to
its brightness?
6. How did the magnitude system originate in a classification of stars
Learning to Look
by brightness? 1. Look at the five figures in Concept Art 2A, item 3. Continue the
7. What does the word apparent mean in apparent visual magnitude? series, drawing two more pictures. What latitudes are the next two
8. In what ways is the celestial sphere a scientific model? pictures in the series? If you are at latitude −90 degrees, is your
zenith the same as a person located at a latitude +90 degrees?
9. Why do astronomers use the word on to describe angles on the sky
rather than angles in the sky? 2. Look at Concept Art 2A, item 2. What is the angular diameter of a
typical star in the cartoon? (Hint: Compare the size of a star with
10. If Earth did not rotate, could you define the celestial poles and
that of the Moon in the cartoon.)
celestial equator?
22 PART 1 THE SKY
Guidepost
Cycles of the Sun and Moon
In the previous chapter you looked at the The cycles of the sky are elegant and dramatic, and you
3
sky and saw how its apparent daily motion is caused by the can understand them fully only if you know that Earth is a
rotation of Earth. In this chapter you will discover that the Sun, moving planet. Humans did not always know that. How we
Moon, and planets move against the background of stars in came to understand that Earth is a planet is the subject of the
cycles longer than one day. Some of those motions have direct next chapter.
influences on your life and produce dramatic sights in the
sky (see CO3). As you explore, you will find answers to four
important questions:
Even a man who is pure in heart and
▶ What causes the seasons? says his prayers by night
▶ How do astronomical cycles affect Earth’s climate?
May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
▶ Why does the Moon go through phases?
and the moon shines full and bright.
▶ What causes lunar and solar eclipses?
P R O V E R B F R O M O L D W O L F M A N M O V I E S
NASA/Rami Daud
CO3 A sequence of images spanning about two hours showing a lunar

eclipse visible from the United States in September 2015. From left to
right, the full moon is increasingly covered by Earth’s shadow. In the
image at far right, the Moon is shown fully shadowed, illuminated only
by the orange glow of sunlight refracted through Earth’s atmosphere.
This was a rare “supermoon” eclipse that occurred when the Moon was
closest in its orbit to Earth, and near the horizon for many observers,
thereby appearing as large as possible.
23
Y
our alarm clock and your calendar are astronomical stars. It would move a distance roughly equal to its own diameter
instruments that track the apparent motion of the Sun between sunrise and sunset. This motion is caused by the motion
in the sky. Furthermore, your calendar is divided into of Earth in its nearly circular orbit around the Sun.
months, and that recognizes the monthly orbital motion of the For example, in early to mid-January, you would see the
Moon. Your life is regulated by the cycles of the sky, and the Sun in front of the constellation Sagittarius (Figure 3-1). As Earth
most obvious cycle is that of the Sun. moves along its circular orbit, the Sun appears to move east-
ward among the stars. By March, you would see it in front of
Aquarius.
3-1 Cycles of the Sun Although people often say the Sun is “in Sagittarius” or “in
Aquarius,” it isn’t really correct to say the Sun is “in” a constella-
Earth’s rotation on its axis causes the cycle of day and night, but it is tion. The Sun is only 1 AU away, and most of the stars visible in
its motion around the Sun in its orbit that defines the year. Notice an the sky are millions of times more distant. Nevertheless, in late
important distinction. Rotation is the turning of a body on its axis, February and early March of each year, the Sun crosses in front
but revolution means the motion of a body around a point outside of the stars that make up Aquarius, and people use the common
the body. You should be careful to say Earth rotates once a day on its expression, “The Sun is in Aquarius.”
axis and revolves once a year around the Sun. The apparent path of the Sun against the background of stars
is called the ecliptic. If the sky were a great screen, the ecliptic
Annual Motion of the Sun would be the shadow cast by Earth’s orbit. That is why the ecliptic
Even in the daytime, the sky is filled with stars, but the glare of can be described as the projection of Earth’s orbit on the sky.
sunlight fills Earth’s atmosphere with scattered light, and you can Earth circles the Sun in 365.26 days, and consequently the
see only the brilliant Sun. If the Sun were fainter, you would be Sun appears to circle the sky in the same period. That means the
able to see it rise in the morning in front of the stars. During Sun, traveling 360° around the ecliptic in 365.26 days, travels
the day, you would see the Sun and the stars moving westward, about 1° eastward in 24 hours, about twice its angular diameter.
and the Sun would eventually set in front of the same stars. If You don’t notice this apparent motion of the Sun because you
you watched carefully as the day passed, you would notice that can’t see the stars in the daytime, but it does have an important
the Sun was creeping slowly eastward against the background of consequence that you do notice—the seasons.
▼ Figure 3-1 Earth’s orbit is a nearly perfect circle, but it is shown in an inclined view in this diagram and consequently
looks oval. Earth’s motion around the Sun makes the Sun appear to move against the background of the stars. Earth’s
orbit is thus projected on the sky as the circular path of the Sun, the ecliptic. If you could see the stars in the daytime,
you would notice the Sun crossing in front of the distant constellations as Earth moves along its orbit.
Capricornus
Aquarius Sagittarius
Pisces Scorpius
Libra
Earth’s orbit Sun

Aries
January 1 March 1
Virgo
Taurus
Leo Projection of Earth’s
Gemini Cancer orbit — the ecliptic
View from Earth Sun View from Earth

on January 1 on March 1
Sun
24 PART 1 THE SKY
Seasons All of the planets of the Solar System, including Earth, orbit
around the Sun. If you were looking down on the Solar System
Earth would not experience seasons if it rotated upright in its
from the north celestial pole, you would see the planets moving
orbit, but it does have seasons because its axis of rotation is
in the same counterclockwise direction around their orbits, with
tipped 23.4° from the perpendicular to its orbit. Another way to
the planets farthest from the Sun moving the slowest. Seen from
say this is that Earth’s equator is inclined 23.4° to its orbit. Study
Earth, the outer planets move slowly eastward* along the eclip-
Concept Art 3A, “The Cycle of the Seasons,” and notice two impor-
tic. In fact, the word planet comes from the Greek word mean-
tant principles and six new terms:
ing “wanderer.” Mars moves completely around the ecliptic in
1 Because Earth’s axis of rotation is inclined 23.4°, the Sun slightly more than 2 years, but Saturn, being farther from the
moves into the northern sky in the spring and into the Sun, takes nearly 30 years.
southern sky in the fall. That causes the cycle of the sea- Mercury and Venus also stay near the ecliptic, but they move
sons. Notice how the vernal equinox, the summer solstice, the differently from the other planets. They have orbits inside Earth’s
autumnal equinox, and the winter solstice mark the begin- orbit, and that means they are never seen far from the Sun in
ning of the seasons. Earth’s elliptical orbit is very nearly the sky. Observed from Earth, they move eastward away from
circular, and as it travels from perihelion to aphelion, its dis- the Sun and then back toward the Sun, crossing the near part of
tance from the Sun varies only slightly and is not the cause their orbit. They continue moving westward away from the Sun
of the seasons. and then move back, crossing the far part of their orbit before
2 Earth goes through a cycle of seasons because of changes they move out east of the Sun again. To find one of these planets,
in the amount of solar energy that Earth’s Northern and you need to look above the western horizon just after sunset or
Southern Hemispheres receive at different times of the year. above the eastern horizon just before sunrise. Venus is easier to
Because of circulation patterns in Earth’s atmosphere, the locate because it is brighter and because its larger orbit carries it
Northern and Southern Hemispheres are mostly isolated higher above the horizon than does Mercury’s (Figure 3-2). Mer-
from each other and exchange little heat. When one hemi- cury’s orbit is so small that it can never get farther than 28° from
sphere receives more solar energy than the other, it grows the Sun. Consequently, it is hard to see against the Sun’s glare
rapidly warmer. and is often hidden in the clouds and haze near the horizon.
By tradition, any planet visible in the evening sky is called
Notice that the seasons in Earth’s Southern Hemisphere an evening star, even though planets are not stars. Similarly, any
are reversed with respect to those in the Northern Hemisphere; planet visible in the sky shortly before sunrise is called a morn-
Australia and other lands in the Southern Hemisphere experi- ing star. Perhaps the most beautiful is Venus, which can become
ence winter from June 22 to September 22, and summer from as bright as magnitude 24.7. As Venus moves around its orbit, it
December 21 to March 20. can dominate the western sky each evening for many weeks, but
Now you can set your friends straight if they mention two eventually its orbit carries it back toward the Sun, and it is lost
of the most Common Misconceptions about the seasons. First, the in the haze near the horizon. In a few weeks, it reappears in the
seasons don’t occur because Earth moves closer to or farther dawn sky, a brilliant morning star.
from the Sun. If that were the cause, both of Earth’s hemispheres The cycles of the sky are so impressive that it is not sur-
would experience winter at the same time, but that’s not what prising that people have strong feelings about them. Ancient
happens. Earth’s orbit is nearly circular. Its distance from the Sun peoples saw the motion of the Sun around the ecliptic as a pow-
varies by only a few percent from winter to summer, and that erful influence on their daily lives, and the motion of the plan-
isn’t enough to cause the seasons. Second, it is not easier to stand ets along the ecliptic seemed similarly meaningful. The ancient
a raw egg on end on the day of the vernal equinox! Have you superstition of astrology is based on the cycles of the Sun and
heard that one? Radio and TV personalities love to talk about it, planets around the sky. You have probably heard of the zodiac,
but it just isn’t true. It is one of the silliest misconceptions in sci- a band around the sky extending about 9° above and below the
ence. You can stand a raw egg on end any day of the year if you ecliptic. The signs of the zodiac take their names from the 12
have steady hands. (Hint: It helps to shake the egg really hard to principal constellations along the ecliptic. A horoscope is just
break the yolk inside so it can settle to the bottom.) a diagram showing the location of the Sun, Moon, and planets
around the ecliptic and their position above or below the hori-
Motions of the Planets zon for a given date and time. Centuries ago, astrology was an
The planets of our Solar System produce no visible light of their important part of astronomy, but the two are now almost exact
own; they are visible only by reflected sunlight. Mercury, Venus, opposites—astronomy is a science that depends on evidence,
Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are all easily visible to the unaided eye
and look like stars, but Uranus is usually too faint to be seen, and
Neptune is never bright enough. *You will discover occasional exceptions to this eastward motion in Chapter 4.
Chapter 3 CYCLES OF THE SUN AND MOON 25
North celestial pole
Celestial
1 theYouseasons.
can use the celestial sphere to help you think about
The celestial equator is the projection of
equator
Earth’s equator on the sky, and the ecliptic is the projection of Autumnal equinox
Earth’s orbit on the sky. Because Earth is tipped in its orbit, the Winter
ecliptic and equator are inclined to each other by 23.4 degrees, solstice
as shown at right. As the Sun moves eastward around the sky, it
spends half the year in the southern half of the sky and half the
year in the northern half. That causes the seasons.
Summer
Ecliptic
23.4° solstice
The Sun crosses the celestial equator going northward at the Vernal equinox
point called the vernal equinox. The Sun is at its farthest north
at the point called the summer solstice. It crosses the celestial
equator going southward at the autumnal equinox and reaches
its most southern point at the winter solstice.
South celestial pole
Event Date* N. Hemisphere

The seasons are defined by the dates when the Sun Vernal equinox March 20 Spring begins
1a Summer solstice June 22 Summer begins
crosses these four points, as shown in the table at the
right. Equinox comes from the word for “equal”; the day of an Autumnal equinox September 22 Autumn begins
equinox has equal amounts of daylight and darkness. Solstice Winter solstice December 21 Winter begins
comes from the words meaning “Sun” and “stationary.” Vernal
comes from the word for “green.” The “green” equinox marks * Give or take a day due to leap years and other factors.
the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere.
ris
a
23.4°
Pol
To
On the day of the summer solstice in

1b
late June, Earth’s Northern 40°
Hemisphere is inclined toward the N la
titu
de
Sun, and sunlight shines almost
straight down at northern
latitudes. At southern
latitudes, sunlight strikes
the ground at an angle
and spreads out. North Sunlight nearly direct
America has warm on northern latitudes
weather, and South
America has cool Equ
weather. ato
r
To Sun
Earth’s axis of rotation
points toward Polaris,
and, like a top, the
spinning Earth holds its
axis fixed as it orbits the
Sun. On one side of the
Sun, Earth’s Northern 40°
S la
Hemisphere leans toward titu
de
the Sun; on the other side of
its orbit, it leans away. The
direction of the axis of rotation
does not change during the year. NASA Sunlight spread out
on southern latitudes
Earth at Northern Hemisphere

summer solstice
Summer solstice Noon Sun
light
2 The two causes of the

seasons in the Northern West
Hemisphere are shown at right.
Sunset
C ele
First, the noon summer Sun is
higher in the sky and the winter
s ti a
South North
Sun is lower, as shown by the
le
longer winter shadows. Thus,
qu
ato
Light striking the ground at a winter sunlight is more spread
r
1c out. Second, the summer Sun
steep angle spreads out less than
rises in the northeast and sets East Sunrise
light striking the ground at a shallow
At summer solstice
angle. Light from the summer solstice in the northwest, spending more
Sun strikes northern latitudes from than 12 hours in the sky. The
nearly overhead and is concentrated. winter Sun rises in the
southeast and sets in the
southwest, spending less than Noon Sun
Winter solstice light 12 hours in the sky. Both of
Sunset West
these effects mean that
northern latitudes receive more
C ele
energy from the summer Sun,
s ti a
and summer days are warmer South North
le
than winter days.
qu
ato
r
Sunrise
East
Light from the winter solstice Sun At winter solstice
strikes northern latitudes at a much
steeper angle and spreads out. The
same amount of energy is spread over
a larger area, so the ground receives
risa
less energy from the winter Sun. 23.4°
Pol
To
Sunlight spread out On the day of the winter
on northern latitudes 1d
solstice in late December,
Earth’s Northern Hemisphere is
40° inclined away from the Sun, and
N la
titu sunlight strikes the ground at
de
an angle and spreads out. At
southern latitudes, sunlight
shines almost straight
down and does not spread
out. North America has
cool weather and South
America has warm
Equ weather.
To Sun ato
r
Earth’s orbit is only very
slightly elliptical. About
January 3, Earth is at
Sunlight nearly direct perihelion, its closest
on southern latitudes
point to the Sun, when it
is only 1.7 percent closer
than average. About July 4,
Earth is at aphelion, its most
40° distant point from the Sun,
S la
titu when it is only 1.7 percent farther
de
than average. This small variation
does not significantly affect the
seasons.
Earth at Northern Hemisphere

winter
Copyright 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not solstice
be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-300
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gentlemen outside the House. All revolutions he thought the work of fools
and knaves, philosophers, Jacobins, and sans-culottes. The Jeffersonians
were conspiring to prostrate popular liberty and establish tyranny by
curtailing the power of the Executive and increasing the power of the House.
It was all very simple. The President crushed, the Senate next destroyed,
three or four audacious demagogues would dominate the House until the
strongest cut the throats of the others and seized the scepter. The Federalists
were delighted—what a wonderful man was Harper![1404] Day by day the
violence increased. Harper snapped at Giles, who snapped back, and when
Otis made a nasty attack on the Virginian and the latter dared him to repeat it
‘out of doors,’ there were loud cries of ‘order.’ Only Gallatin remained cool,
in possession of his senses. He contented himself with the assertion that only
on information that had not been given could war measures be excused.[1405]
The superheat of the House cooled the passions of the people and
remonstrances against the arming of merchant ships poured in. Even from
New England they came, maddening to Cabot and Ames, reassuring to
Jefferson, who made the most of them in his correspondence.[1406] When the
town meeting at Cambridge joined the remonstrators, the Boston ‘Centinel’
fumed over ‘the indecent abuse of the merchants,’ and the ‘forestalling
knavery’ of the town.[1407] Then, to revive the failing spirits of the war
party, Adams came to the rescue with a Message announcing the failure of
the envoys and recommending warlike measures. How the little patriot
would have winced had he known that in adopting the recommendations of
McHenry he was accepting the dictations of Alexander Hamilton! Jefferson
wrote Madison that it was ‘an insane message,’ and the Jeffersonians, no
longer doubting that war was the purpose, arranged to force a show-down.
[1408] Thus appeared the Sprigg Resolutions providing for purely defensive
measures for the coast and the interior, and declaring that ‘under existing
conditions it is not expedient for the United States to resort to war against
the French Republic.’[1409]
Momentarily taken unaware, the Federalists were stunned. Harper
blundered into the admission that he could see no objections, but Otis, with
keener insight, proposed to substitute the word ‘declare’ for ‘resort to’ war—
and the cat was out of the bag. The Jeffersonians feared, not so much a
declaration of war as warlike measures that would force a state of war, and
to forestall that was the purpose of the Resolutions. Thus the debate
proceeded, more bitter and personal, with Giles and Harper resembling the
wenches of the fishmarket without their skirts.
Meanwhile, the Federalist leaders were familiar with the X Y Z papers of
which the Democrats were kept in ignorance. Hamilton, private citizen of
New York, knew their contents; Jefferson, Vice-President of the United
States, did not. This was the trump card of the war party, and no one saw it
so quickly as Hamilton, who immediately began to work secretly, through
his agents in the Cabinet, for their publication. ‘Nothing certainly can be
more proper,’ he wrote Pickering. ‘Confidence will otherwise be
wanting.’[1410] In utter ignorance of their contents, the Jeffersonians began
to demand their production. Only a few days before, the Jeffersonian organ
in Boston was charging that Adams withheld the papers because they
‘contain an account of some resentful expressions of the French respecting
our Cabinet, and Mr. Adams does not expect any credit by publishing
them.’[1411] Thus, when the motion was made that the papers be produced,
Gallatin, Giles, Livingston, and Nicholas supported it, and the next day they
were sent with the request that they be considered in confidence until the
effect of their publication could be discussed.
The galleries were cleared—the doors locked and guarded—and for three
days and into the fourth the secret discussion continued. Then the doors were
opened and the crowd in the galleries heard a brief discussion of the number
of copies to be printed for circulation. ‘One thousand, two hundred,’ said
Bayard of Delaware. ‘Three thousand,’ urged Harper. ‘Seven thousand,’
sneered the hot-headed Matthew Lyon, ‘for the papers are so trifling and
unimportant that no printer would risk the printing of them in a pamphlet.’
Otis incredulously inquired if he had rightly understood the Vermont fire-
eater. Lyon unblushingly repeated his strange assertion. The suggestion of
Bayard was adopted, and, when the members filed out of the little room in
which they deliberated that day, Harper and the war hawks could already
hear the thunder of the guns.
II
Thus did the shadows close in on the Jeffersonians. The blow was
staggering. On the appearance of the damaging documents, most of the
Democratic papers were silent, while printing them in full. One made a
brave show of satisfaction by criticizing Adams for withholding them so
long, and suggesting that perhaps ‘the most important papers’ had been
withheld.[1412] Even the buoyancy of Jefferson suffered a momentary
collapse. Writing Madison the day the papers were read, he did not have the
heart to indicate the nature of their contents.[1413] The next day he had
recovered sufficiently to write that his first impressions were ‘very
disagreeable and confused,’ and that this would be the first impression of the
public. A more mature consideration, he thought, would disclose no new
ground for war, but war psychology and fear of false imputations might
drive the people to the war hawks.[1414] Madison, equally astonished,
thought Talleyrand’s conduct ‘incredible,’ not because of its ‘depravity,
which, however heinous, is not without example,’ but because of its
‘unparalleled stupidity.’[1415] Monroe, who had spent the night with
Madison in Virginia, thought the incident ‘evidently a swindling
experiment,’ which was clear enough on its face.[1416] The public, in the
meantime, was reading one of the most grotesque stories of political infamy
and personal cupidity on record. The envoys had been treated with contempt,
refused an audience, insulted by unofficial blackmailers sent by the
unscrupulous Talleyrand to demand a loan for France and, more particularly,
a bribe for himself. The envoys had conducted themselves with becoming
dignity and spirit. ‘Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute,’ was a
clarion call to battle. The pride of the people was touched, and overnight the
political complexion of the country had been changed. A wave of hysterical
patriotism swept over the Nation, and the war hawks set to work to turn it
into frenzy. It was now or never.
III
For once John Adams was on top of the world. He who had so longed for
popularity had found it. Everywhere, in cities, on Southern plantations,
under the primeval forests of the frontiers, men were wildly waving flags
and saluting the President. Addresses pledging life and fortune poured in to
be prominently printed in the papers, and nowhere more than in the
Jeffersonian States.[1417] Most were the spontaneous expressions of an
excited people, some were unquestionably engineered by the politicians.
[1418] But on the surface the country was aflame. Down the Philadelphia
streets one day swung twelve hundred young men, keeping step to martial
music, the streets lined with the cheering populace, and, as ‘Porcupine’
observed, with ‘every female in the city whose face is worth looking at’
gladdening ‘the way with her smiles.’[1419] At Adams’s house the little man,
who had always wanted to be a warrior, appeared on the steps to greet them,
wearing a cockade, in full military regalia, his sword dangling at his side.
Intoxicated by the adulation, he plunged impetuously into a denunciation of
France and its Revolution.[1420] Madison thought his language ‘the most
abominable and degrading that could fall from the lips of a first magistrate
of an independent people, and particularly from a Revolutionary
patriot.’[1421] Aroused by the philippic of the President, the young men
spent the day marching the streets, and in the evening wined and dined until
ten o’clock, when they sallied forth to exercise their patriotism in deeds of
violence. The Terror had begun. Reeling and shouting, they bore down upon
the home of Bache. With only women and children in the house, they fell in
right gallant fashion on the doors and windows and were making headway
when the neighbors interfered and sent the drunken youngsters upon their
way.[1422] But with the war hawks, the attack on the home of Bache was not
least among the virtues of the mob, and the Federalist press was unstinted in
its praise.
Then, on May 9th, came the day of fasting and prayer, set by Adams in
happy ignorance that when he yielded to the importunities of Pickering for a
proclamation, he was again acting under the direction of the hated Hamilton.
[1423] The President had worked himself into a morbid state of mind. Some
mysterious wag had sent him a warning that the city would be burned that
night. The Jeffersonians smiled and shrugged their shoulders, and one editor
suggested that, since the conflagration was promised for the fast day, ‘the
incendiaries meant political or ecclesiastical fire.’[1424] But Adams, taking it
seriously, saw conspirators all about, incendiaries, assassins. Determined to
die resisting at his post, he had his servants carry arms and ammunition into
the house by the back way to withstand a siege.
The day was quiet enough, with business suspended and the churches
filled. Preachers pounced upon the Democrats and infidels with demoniac
fury. But in the evening the Terror came—and even as an old man Adams
could recall it only with a shudder. The Administration papers of the time,
eager to paint the picture black, could find nothing serious to report,
however. A few butcher boys, none the wiser for drink, exercised their lungs
in the State House yard until the soldiers swept down upon them, arresting a
few who were dismissed on the morrow, and frightening the others home.
[1425] But that was not the only mob that roved the streets that night. The
patriots had their inning, too, smashing the windows of Bache’s house and
smearing the statue of that filthy Democrat, Benjamin Franklin, with mud
from the gutters. The war propagandists fairly fluttered with activity.
Hopkinson’s new song, ‘Hail Columbia,’ was wildly cheered at the theaters,
much to the disgust of the Democrats, who resented the complimentary
reference to Adams,[1426] and, when the author was soon given a
Government position, it was suggested that Hopkinson had certainly ‘written
his song to the right tune.’[1427] When Fox the actor sang the song at the
theater in Baltimore, it was observed that ‘some Jacobins left the
room.’[1428] Even this hysteria did not satisfy the war hawks who stood in
the wings beating tom-toms and crying, ‘War! War! War!’ Hamilton was
urging Washington ‘under some pretext of health’ to tour Virginia and North
Carolina to give occasion for dinners and warlike addresses. From his retreat
at Dedham, Fisher Ames was writing nervously to Pickering that ‘we must
make haste to wage war or we shall be lost.’[1429] Hopkinson, the song-
writer, observing the serenity of New York, was wishing that he were a
despot that he might ‘order the whole city to undergo the Turkish ceremony
of the bastinado’ and ‘rouse the lazy drones with a whip.’[1430] In far-off
Lisbon, William Smith was nauseated with ‘the old womanish whining about
our reluctance to war.’[1431]
Then John Marshall returned and the tired voices of the shouters found a
tonic. Out to Kensington they went to meet him, sour-visaged Pickering in a
carriage looking stern and warlike despite his spectacles, three companies of
cavalry on prancing steeds, citizens and Congressmen in conveyances or on
horseback. Long before the town was reached, ‘the streets and windows,
even the housetops in many instances, were crowded with people.’[1432] The
bells in the steeple of Christ Church began to peal, and peal they did far into
the night. The reverberations of cannon mingled with the huzzas of the
populace as the procession moved slowly on through as many streets as
possible to the City Tavern. ‘All this was to secure him to their views that he
might say nothing that would oppose the game they were playing,’ Jefferson
wrote Madison.[1433] The next morning the war party thronged the tavern, a
dinner was given, and there was much satisfaction when Jefferson, who had
called, was unable to see the hero.[1434] Livingston, who had accompanied
Marshall from New York, had been assured that France had no thought of
war, but soon stories were afloat through the city, as emanating from the
envoy, of a contradictory nature.[1435]
Again the prancing of cavalry in the streets when Marshall departed for
Virginia—a series of ovations all the way.[1436] Then Pinckney returned—
and more pageants. Soldiers and citizens vied at Princeton and Trenton, and
a dinner was given and the French damned.[1437] All the time the country
was being overwhelmed with propaganda such as it had never known before.
Hamilton was writing his bitter invectives against the French,[1438] in which
France was ‘a den of pillage and slaughter’ and Frenchmen ‘foul birds of
prey.’ These letters, running in Fenno’s paper, alarmed Jefferson, who wrote
to prod Madison from the lethargy of retirement. ‘Sir, take up your pen
against this champion. You know the ingenuity of his talents, and there is not
a person but yourself who can foil him. For heaven’s sake, then, take up your
pen and do not desert the public cause entirely.’[1439] But even more
damaging than the pen of Hamilton was that of William Cobbett, ‘Peter
Porcupine.’ As a manufacturer of horrors he makes the wildest
propagandists of the World War pale like a candle held against the sun.
Childishly happy was the ‘Porcupine’ of those days when he could fight, on
American soil, ‘for his country’ and his King. Thus ‘the sans-culottes’ had
‘taken vessels off the bar at Charleston’ and the French had landed and were
plundering farmhouses.[1440] Thus a French invasion plot was discovered.
‘Porcupine’ had the particulars. The negro slaves were to be armed and used
as allies against the whites. ‘What a pretty figure Nicholas and Giles will
cut,’ wrote the jubilant Peter, ‘when Citizen Pompey and Citizen Cæsar shall
have tied their hands behind them.... Could its miseries be confined to these,
I would say, God hasten it.’[1441] ‘Gaunt Gallatin’ working hard all night?
Useless, useless—‘war, frightful war there will be in spite of all his teeth and
his nails too.’[1442] And then again, the invasion. Rumor had it that the
French were buying three thousand stand of arms for the West Indies. ‘That
these arms were bought for Virginia and Georgia is much more likely,’
commented ‘Porcupine.’ ‘Take care, take care, you sleepy southern fools.
Your negroes will probably be your masters this day twelve month.’[1443]
‘Extra!’ ‘Extra!’ ‘Startling News from Virginia’—‘these villians have
actually begun to tamper with our negroes.’ An ‘ill-looking fellow on
horseback’ had been seen talking with some slaves. It was understood he had
come from Philadelphia, and the ruffian was a refugee from English justice
in Ireland.[1444] And then, another lurid article on ‘Horrors of a French
Invasion,’ with bloodcurdling pictures of the outraging of American wives
and daughters.[1445]
The French invasion at hand—slaves armed—masters murdered in their
beds—churches burned—women outraged—girls kidnaped—horrors piled
on horrors, and all because of democracy. Little wonder that the
apprehensive Adams, who temperamentally sniffed treachery in every
breeze, all but trembled as he turned the pages of his ‘Porcupine’ that year.
In Boston the presses were kept busy turning out Harper’s war speech,[1446]
and Cabot was spurring Harper on to greater efforts. There, too, the rabid
war speech of a Harvard professor made on Fast Day in Brattle Street was
being published as a pamphlet,[1447] and the clergy were urging the hate of
French democracy as a Christian duty, and converting their pulpits into
pedestals of Mars. Dr. Tappan of Boston was making political harangues that
Federalist politicians were praising,[1448] and Father Thayer was clamoring
for slaughter in pious accents.[1449] Sometimes Democratic members of
congregations who sought Christ instead of Cæsar in the temples indignantly
left, and on one occasion an audacious and irreverent Jeffersonian paused on
his way out to exclaim in Latin, ‘Why so much anger in the heart of a
divine?’[1450] Nor were some of the war propagandists on the Bench to be
outdone by those in the pulpit. Judge Rush was thundering vituperative
phrases at the French in a charge to a jury.[1451] Chief Justice Dana of
Massachusetts phrased one of his charges like a participant in a
congressional party scrimmage.[1452] Much earlier, Chief Justice Ellsworth
of the United States Supreme Court made a grand jury charge the occasion
for an amazing attack on the Jeffersonian Party.[1453] As early as May,
Jefferson was utterly disheartened by the ‘war spirit worked up in the
town.’[1454] By June he was writing Kosciusko that he thought war ‘almost
inevitable.’[1455] In August he felt that ‘there is no event however atrocious
which may not be expected,’ and was promising to meet the Maratists ‘in
such a way as shall not be derogatory either to the public liberty or my own
personal honor.’[1456]
The country was rushing toward the Terror, with the war party rattling
sabers and threatening their opponents with violence. ‘Porcupine’ was
predicting gleefully that ‘when the occasion requires, the Yankees will show
themselves as ready at stringing up insurgents as in stringing onions.’[1457] It
was an open season for physical assaults on Jeffersonian editors and Bache
was being attacked in his office,[1458] and another assailant who had sought
to murder him found his fifty-dollar fine paid by the politicians when he
proffered the money, and Adams sent him on a mission to Europe.[1459] The
Federalists, for the moment, were cocks of the walk, and even Hamilton was
rushing into print with a letter that would have endeared him to the Three
Musketeers. A nondescript had referred in the press to his ambition and his
affair with Mrs. Reynolds. Ludicrously interpreting it as a threat of
assassination because of a reference to Cæsar, Hamilton lost his head and
published a signed statement promising that the ‘assassin’ would ‘not find
me unprepared to repel attack.’[1460] This childish boast played into the
hands of the obscure assailant, who replied: ‘Armed with a cane (whether
with a sword therein I cannot say) you walk about, prepared, you say, to defy
attack. By this you fall beneath resentment and excite my pity.’[1461] A few
days later he was writing of ‘the declaration made in company’ by ‘a Mr.
Patterson, a clerk to Alexander Hamilton,’ that the writer would be
murdered, and offering five hundred dollars reward for the apprehension of
the prospective assassin.[1462] Wild days, wild days!
This was the temper in which Congress resumed its deliberations after the
publication of the X Y Z papers. Jefferson advised his followers to seek an
adjournment to permit the members to consult the people, and had this
procedure been adopted the Federalists might have escaped the pitfalls to
which they were reeling.[1463] The Democrats in the streets were cowed and
only the most audacious met threats with bravado or courage. The braves of
Tammany at a public dinner drank to the toast: ‘May the old Tories and all
who wish to engage the United States in a war with any nation, realize the
felicity they anticipate by being placed in the front of the first battle.’[1464]
The Boston ‘Chronicle’ was publishing letters from ‘Benedict Arnold’
offering his services in the war for England, and rejoicing ‘to hear that so
many of my countrymen have shaken off their delusion, as I predicted they
would only eighteen years ago.’[1465] Day after day it published Josiah
Quincy’s speech, made in 1774, against standing armies. Soon it was calling
attention to profiteering of war patriots in Boston who had a monopoly on
Raven’s Duck which would be wanted for tents.[1466]
III
But the Democratic leaders required all their courage to stand up before
the fusillade—Jefferson most of all. With the Philadelphia streets filled with
swaggering young men in uniforms, many nights he heard ‘The Rogue’s
March’ played beneath his windows. Bitter, threatening letters burdened his
mail. Spies crept to his dinner table to pick up the stray threads of casual
conversation that could be given a sinister twist, and he was forced to deny
himself to all but his most intimate friends.[1467] When forced to appear in
company, he simulated an abstracted silence, ignored personal affronts, and
talked calmly when at all. ‘All the passions are boiling over,’ he wrote in
May, ‘and he who would keep himself cool and clear of the contagion is so
far below the point of ordinary conversation that he finds himself isolated in
every society.’[1468] Convinced that even his correspondence was tampered
with, he no longer dared write freely in letters entrusted to the mails.[1469]
Spies dogged his footsteps and kept guard at his door.[1470] When on a visit
to Virginia he accepted an entertainment on Sunday, the floodgates were
opened upon him, and his enemies boasted that ‘this fact has been trumpeted
from one end of the country to the other as irrefutable proof of his contempt
for the Christian religion, and his devotion to the new religion of
France.’[1471] Sad that Rufus King and Christopher Gore had continued their
English tour on Sunday, and too bad that the Federalists persisted in holding
their political caucuses in Boston on Sunday evenings, retorted the
‘Independent Chronicle.’[1472]
No dinner of the war party was complete without an insulting toast on
Jefferson. ‘Jefferson—May he deserve better of his country than he has
hitherto done.’[1473] ‘The Vice-President—May his heart be purged of
Gallicism in the pure fire of Federalism or be lost in the furnace’—with
groans.[1474] ‘John Adams—May he like Samson slay thousands of
Frenchmen with the jaw bone of Jefferson.’[1475] And in the midst of the
mobbing, the self-contained philosopher kept his mouth shut and his feet
upon the ground. With ‘The Rogue’s March’ ringing in his ears he was able
to write a long letter on the value of crop rotation;[1476] another on a plough
he had invented;[1477] and in the midst of the Sedition Bill debate, learning
that an acquaintance was going west of the Mississippi where wild horses
roved the plains, he sent the suggestion that this was ‘the last opportunity to
study them in a state of nature,’ and requesting him to prepare a report for
the Philosophical Society.[1478] Many days found him alone in the library of
this Society, and once, during that hectic summer, he stole away from the
turmoil and hate to the beautiful country home of the Logans where he could
forget the bitterness of the battle browsing in its great library or lounging
beneath its majestic trees.[1479]
Everywhere the Democrats were fair game for persecution. Matthew
Lyon found a band playing ‘The Rogue’s March’ in front of his tavern at
Trenton and New Brunswick where crowds shouted imprecations.[1480] In
New York, only the appearance of fighting Irish friends prevented the war
hawks from serenading Edward Livingston’s home with the offensive
March.[1481] In Boston the ‘patriots’ expelled Thomas Adams, editor of the
‘Chronicle,’ from the Fire Society of which he had been a faithful member
for fourteen years.
IV
In this atmosphere, the Federalist machinery in Congress was set in

motion at high speed on war measures. Provisions were made for the
strengthening of the coast defenses, a navy was created, an army provided,
taxes levied, and through all this the Jeffersonians, under the calm,
courageous leadership of Albert Gallatin, merely sought to exercise a
moderating influence. If war was to come, provision had to be made. But
that was not enough for the radicals among the Federalists—the conditions
were ripe for the crushing of domestic foes as well as foreign enemies. Here
was the opportunity to destroy the party of democracy.
The first manifestation of this intent came with the introduction of the
Alien Bill in the Senate—aimed at the Irish more than at the French, if we
may judge from the correspondence of the Hamiltonian leaders and the tone
of the Federalist press. Both fairly bristled with hatred of the Irish immigrant
who was beginning to make himself felt in American politics. This, in part a
by-product of the Federalist partiality for England, was, in large measure, an
expression of the Federalist abhorrence of insurrections against constituted
authority everywhere. From the Ireland of that day, seething with rebellion,
incoming vessels were bringing Irish refugees, most of whom were members
of the revolutionary United Irishmen. Instinct and observation took them in a
body into the Jeffersonian Party, of which they became the shock troops in
many parts of the country. It was only at Jeffersonian dinners that glasses
were drained to the Liberal leaders in England, Fox and Sheridan, and to the
success of the Irish Rebellion; and only in Jeffersonian papers that sympathy
was expressed. It was during this time that Irish patriots were being hurried
to the gallows, and John Philpot Curran was making his incomparable
orations, now classics, in their defense. His burning phrases were being
punctuated by the rattle of the soldiers’ musketry intended to awe him into
silence. The patriot press was being crushed in Dublin. Castlereagh was busy
with his dirty money buying members of the Irish Parliament where money
would buy them, and finding renegades ready to cut their country’s throat for
a title, a place, or a ribbon to pin on their coats. Of these latter the most
loathsome was Lord Clare, whose infamy has been embalmed in the
eloquence of Curran.
It is not without significance that the Jeffersonian dinners in those days
were toasting John Philpot Curran, and that his speeches were printed by the
column in the Jeffersonian press,[1482] while Cobbett was giving three full
pages to Lord Clare’s excoriation of his countrymen.[1483] A month before
the Alien Bill reached the House, Cobbett was devoting a full page to a
weird story involving the Irish in America in a conspiracy with the French
for the destruction of the Government of the United States.[1484] ‘That
restless, rebellious tribe, the emigrated United Irishman,’ snorted
‘Porcupine,’ the English citizen.
All this was on the surface, but it did not reveal half the story. With the
Irish patriots, crushed by the soldiers of Cornwallis, seeking an asylum in
America, Rufus King, the Federalist Minister in London, was writing
Hamilton rejoicing over the suppression of the Irish Rebellion, and
expressing the hope that ‘our Government ... will have the power and
inclination to exclude these disaffected characters, who will be suffered to
seek an asylum among us.’[1485] It was King’s aggressive protest to the
British Government that delayed for four years the release of the Irish
prisoners who had planned an extensive settlement in America. Ten years
later, the most brilliant of these, Thomas Addis Emmet, who was to become
one of the ornaments of the New York Bar and to sleep at length by the
roaring traffic of Broadway in Saint Paul’s churchyard, wrote King in bitter
rebuke: ‘I should have brought along with me a brother [Robert Emmet]
whose name perhaps will you even not read without emotions of sympathy
and respect.’[1486] The Ministry had been favorable to the release and
migration until King’s hot remonstrance against admitting such desperadoes
as Thomas Addis Emmet! This Federalist hate of the Irish reeked in the
sneers of its press, exposed itself in the ‘wild Irish’ speech of Otis, in the
official actions of King, in the correspondence of the leaders, in the
description by Gibbs[1487] of the victims of Cornwallis’s bayonets and
Castlereagh’s bribes as ‘fugitives from the justice of Great Britain.’
Many thought, when the Alien Bill was introduced, that it was aimed at
Gallatin, and it was boasted in the coffee-houses of New York that it would
soon be easy to ‘ship him off.’[1488] Terrorized by the threat of the measure,
many harmless Frenchmen, including Volney, hastily chartered a ship and
sailed away,[1489] but when a little later some emigrant French royalists
came knocking at the door they were admitted.[1490] Jefferson thought the
bill ‘detestable,’[1491] and Madison, ‘a monster that will disgrace its
parents.’[1492] Even Hamilton was shocked at the bill introduced in the
Senate, and he hastened a letter to Pickering urging moderation. ‘Let us not
be cruel or violent,’ he wrote.[1493]
The purpose of the Sedition Bill was to crush the opposition press and
silence criticism of the ruling powers. Among the extreme and dominant
Federalists criticism had long been confused with sedition, and Fenno had
long described attacks on Administration measures as treason. Scurrility in
the press was all too common, but the worst of the Jeffersonian organs could
be matched by the Federalists; and no one in 1798 imagined that a Sedition
Law would ever be evoked against ‘Porcupine’ or Russell. The Hamiltonians
were moving with such celerity toward repression that a Congressman’s
circularization of his constituents with comments on policies and measures
was being denounced as seditious, and Judge Iredell, a narrow partisan, had
actually called the attention of the Richmond Grand Jury to a letter from
Representative Cabell. ‘Porcupine’ had published this letter with abusive
comments as though it were a treasonable correspondence with an alien
enemy.[1494] The next day he published with enthusiastic praise a letter that
Otis the Federalist had written to a constituent in Boston.[1495]
The moment these measures were introduced, every one knew that
Gallatin was in danger because of his Genevese accent, but that ‘Porcupine,’
the English subject, had no fears. Men like Hamilton Rowan, Dr. James
Priestley, and Volney could be sent away, but the putrid offal of the defunct
court of Versailles could continue to count upon a dinner at the Binghams’.
Cabell was subject to indictment for an action that was commendable in
Otis, and the merest child knew that the Sedition Law would be applied to
Jeffersonian papers alone.
Bad as was the Alien Law, it did not approach the viciousness of the
Sedition Act; and the Sedition Bill as passed was mild compared with the
one the Federalist leaders in the Senate originally framed. Albeit America
and France were not at war, the bill declared the French people enemies of
the American people, and that any one giving the former aid and comfort
should be punishable with death. A strict enforcement of such an act would
have sent Jefferson to the gallows. Under the Fourth Article any one
questioning the constitutionality or justice of an Administration measure
could be sent to herd with felons. It would have sealed the lips of members
of Congress.
When this monstrous measure reached Hamilton, he was dumbfounded at
the temerity and brutality of his followers. Grasping his pen, he hurriedly
sent a note of warning to Wolcott. There were provisions that were ‘highly
exceptionable’ that would ‘endanger civil war.’ He hoped that ‘the thing will
not be hurried through.’ Why ‘establish a tyranny?’ Was not ‘energy a very
different thing from violence?’[1496] Reeling drunk with intolerance, even
Hamilton’s warning only coaxed a slight concession to liberty, and it was a
thoroughly vicious and tyrannical measure that was debated in the House.
These debates were conducted under conditions of disorder that would have
disgraced a discussion of brigands wrangling over a division of spoils in a
wayside cave. Gallatin, Livingston, and Nicholas were forced to talk against
coughs, laughter, conversation, and the scraping of the feet of the apostles of
‘law and order.’ No personal insult too foul, no nincompoop too insignificant
to sneer in the face of Gallatin. Despite these terrorizing tactics, the
Jeffersonians stood firm and made their record. Even the customary courtesy
of Gallatin deserted him, however, and when the sneering Harper darkly
hinted at traitors in the House, he retorted sharply that he knew ‘nothing in
the character of [Harper], either public or private, to entitle him to the
ground he so boldly assumes.’
On the last day of the debate on the Alien Bill, Edward Livingston closed
for the opposition; and in discussing the constitutional phase, he anticipated
the doctrine of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, indicating probable
conferences with the tall, silent man who was presiding over the Senate. ‘If
we are ready to violate the Constitution,’ he said, ‘will the people submit to
our unauthorized acts? Sir, they ought not to submit; they would deserve the
chains that these measures are forging for them.’ The effect of such a
measure? ‘The country will swarm with informers, spies, delators, and all
the odious reptile tribe that breed in the sunshine of despotic power.... The
hours of the most unsuspected confidence, the intimacies of friendship, or
the recesses of domestic retirement, afford no security. The companion
whom you must trust, the friend in whom you must confide, the domestic
who waits in your chamber, are all tempted to betray your imprudent or
unguarded follies; to misrepresent your words; to convey them, distorted by
calumny, to the secret tribunal where jealousy presides—where fear
officiates as accuser, and suspicion is the only evidence that is heard.... Do
not let us be told that we are to excite a fervor against a foreign aggression to
establish a tyranny at home; that like the arch traitor we cry “Hail
Columbia”[1497] at the moment we are betraying her to destruction; that we
sing, “Happy Land,” when we are plunging it in ruin and disgrace; and that
we are absurd enough to call ourselves free and enlightened while we
advocate principles that would have disgraced the age of Gothic
barbarity.’[1498]
The vote was taken and the Alien Bill passed, 46 to 40.
Livingston was to hear a few days later when the debate on the Sedition
Bill was reached that he had been guilty of sedition in his speech on the
Alien Bill. Not least among the grotesque features of the crazy times was the
prominence, amounting to leadership, attained by John Allen of Connecticut
—a tall, hectic, sour-visaged fanatic. It was reserved for him to indict the
Jeffersonians generally for sedition. Had not Livingston been guilty of
sedition when he proposed that Gerry be authorized to renew negotiations?
Was not the ‘Aurora’s’ explanation of the effect of the Alien Law upon the
Irish treason? Were not members of Congress who dared write their views to
their constituents traitors? From a want-wit like this fanatic such views were
more ludicrous than depressing, but Harper rose to give his full assent to the
buffoonery of Allen. ‘What!’ exclaimed Nicholas, ‘is it proposed to prevent
members from speaking what they please or prohibit them from reaching the
people with their views?’ And Harper, disclaiming any desire to curtail the
freedom of speech upon the floor, bravely admitted a desire to prevent the
speeches from reaching the people ‘out of doors.’ This astounding doctrine
brought Gallatin to his feet with a scornful denunciation of Allen’s criticism
of Cabell’s letter. It ‘contained more information and more sense than the
gentleman from Connecticut has displayed or can display.’ Taking up every
assertion in Cabell’s letter and making it his own, he challenged a denial of
its truth. Then, referring to the attack on Livingston’s speech, Gallatin gave
his full sanction to the New York statesman’s doctrine of resistance to
unconstitutional measures. ‘I believe that doctrine is absolutely correct and
neither seditious nor treasonable.’
On the last day Livingston spoke with his usual spirit and eloquence, and
Harper closed for the bill with an anti-climactic charge, apropos of nothing,
that the Jeffersonian plan of government was in the interest of ‘men of
immoderate ambition, great family connections, hereditary wealth, and
extensive influence’ like Livingston. ‘Great patrician families’ would walk
over the heads ‘of we plebeian people.’ This touching appeal for the
plebeians could hardly have been meant for Philadelphia where at that time
‘the great patricians’ were lavishly wining and dining the Harpers, and
rigidly excluding the Livingstons and Gallatins from their tables. Thus the
Federalists closed their case and the bill passed, 44 to 41.[1499]
The press was peculiarly silent through the debates. Russell in the Boston
‘Centinel’ observed that ‘Benedict Arnold complained bitterly of the treason
bill,’[1500] and his rival, Thomas Adams of the ‘Chronicle,’ announced the
passage with the comment that ‘we are now abridged the freedom of the
press.’[1501] Soon the ‘Commercial Advertiser’ of New York would be
dubbing all men traitors who criticized the Sedition Law, and Jefferson
would be inviting Hamilton Rowan to the sanctuary of Monticello with the
assurance that the Habeas Corpus Act was still operative in Virginia.[1502]
Almost immediately the Reign of Terror broke upon the land.
VI
In the midst of political terrors the yellow fever stalked again into the
haunts of men, striking in New York, in Boston, with special virulence in
Philadelphia. By the first of October, fourteen hundred had died in New
York City. Hamilton remained in town until persuaded by his family to go to
the country, but he continued to visit the city daily to confer with his
political friends.[1503] In Philadelphia those who could afford it took to
flight. Soon thousands were encamped in tents on the common on the
outskirts and by October not more than seven thousand people remained in
the stricken city. An English traveler, entering in September, found the
theaters, taverns, drinking-houses, gambling-dens, and dance-halls closed,
hospital carts moving slowly through abandoned streets, the casket-makers
alone busy. Sitting one night on the steps of a house in Arch Street, where
most houses were deserted, he could hear nothing but the groans of the
dying, the lamentations of the living, the hammers of the coffin-makers, the
dismal howling of deserted dogs.[1504] Even the physicians took to their
heels, but Dr. Rush, the head of his profession, remained to battle with the
disease.[1505] The health office was kept open day and night.[1506]
But even in the midst of death the politicians fought with scarcely
diminished ferocity. ‘Porcupine’ and Fenno were stooping to the ghastly
business of maligning the methods of Dr. Rush in treating the disease.
Standing heroically to his duty where others had fled, he was forced, day by
day, to read the most scurrilous attacks upon him. The animus was due to the
fact that Rush was a Jeffersonian; and even from Lisbon, William Smith
contributed his slur in a letter to Wolcott manifesting sympathy with the
attacks because he had ‘always considered the Doctor a wrong-headed
politician.’[1507] Bache and Fenno clawed on, amidst the dying and the dead,
until one September day the fever entered the Fenno house and struck down
both the editor and his wife. When she died, the ‘Gazette’ was suspended,
and the next day John Fenno ceased his attacks on Dr. Rush, for Death had
intervened.[1508] ‘Alas poor John Fenno,’ wrote Ames, ‘a worthy man, a true
Federalist, always firm in his principles, mild in maintaining them, and bitter
against foes. No printer was ever so correct in his politics.’[1509] A few days
later, Benjamin Franklin Bache of the ‘Aurora’ fought no more. The Boston
‘Chronicle’ announced his death in a black-bordered editorial lamenting ‘the
loss of a man of inflexible virtue, unappalled by power or persecution, and
who, in dying, knew no anxieties but what was excited by his apprehensions
for his country and for his young family.’[1510] The Jeffersonian press
published long articles and poems of tribute. In New York the Democrats
lost the services of Greenleaf of the ‘Argus,’ another victim of the plague.
John Ward Fenno took up the work of his father, and the widows of
Bache and Greenleaf sought to continue the ‘Aurora’ and the ‘Argus,’ the
former calling to her assistance one of the ablest controversial journalists of
his time, William Duane. No Jeffersonian papers made an unfeeling
reference to the death of Fenno; the passing of Bache was gloated over in
ghoulish fashion by the Federalist press, and soon ‘Porcupine’ and young
Fenno were making merry over ‘the widows Bache and Greenleaf.’ It was
part of the Reign of Terror—and the fight went on.
VII
It went on because there was a congressional election pending and both

parties were putting forth their utmost effort. The Federalists were hoping
that under the influence of war hysteria the Jeffersonians could be
annihilated; the Jeffersonians were fighting desperately to hold the line. The
most sensational feature of the campaign was the emergence as an avowed
party man of Washington, whose aristocratic viewpoint made democracy
offensive. He went the full length, finding nothing objectionable in the Alien
and Sedition Laws. When, on his persuasion, Patrick Henry entered the
campaign as a candidate for the Assembly, he too defended these wretched
measures with the silly and insincere statement that they were ‘too deep’ for
him and were the emanations of a ‘wise body.’[1511]
But more important than the emergence of Washington was the
congressional candidacy of John Marshall, who entered the fight on
Washington’s insistence. The Hamiltonian Federalists were delighted with
his candidacy until the publication of his letter opposing the Alien and
Sedition Laws, when they turned upon him with bitter scorn. ‘His character
is done for,’ wrote Ames.[1512] Noah Webster commented that ‘he speaks
the language of true Americanism except on the Alien and Sedition
Laws.’[1513] ‘Porcupine’ added an editor’s note to the letter in his paper:
‘The publication of these questions and answers will do neither good nor
harm. I insert them as a sort of record of Mr. Marshall’s character. If I were a
voter, however, I would sooner vote for Gallatin than for Marshall.’[1514]
The New England Federalists were wrathy among themselves over
Marshall’s apostasy. ‘Mr. Marshall,’ wrote Cabot to Pickering, ‘has given us
great uneasiness here by his answers.... Mr. Marshall, I know, has much to
learn on the subject of a practical system of free government for the United
States.... I believe, however, that he will eventually prove a great
acquisition.’[1515] It was at this juncture that Cabot proved his superior
political perspicacity by taking up his pen in defense of Marshall for the
Boston ‘Centinel.’[1516] The struggle in Virginia was bitter. The
Jeffersonians, long prepared for Washington’s action, were undismayed, and
they fought with increased vim. The result was that, while Marshall won by
108 majority, the Jeffersonians elected all but eight of the Representatives,
carried the Legislature, and elected a United States Senator.
The Federalists were chagrined with the general result. Cabot was
disappointed with Massachusetts[1517] and Maryland.[1518] A Senator had
been lost in North Carolina, and from South Carolina the Jeffersonians had
sent to the Senate their most resourceful leader, Charles Pinckney. Theodore
Sedgwick, surveying the field, and writing his observations to King in
London, could find no improvement in the Senate and but a slight
‘amelioration’ in the House. The Jeffersonians had won six out of ten seats
in New York, gained two in New Jersey, and eight out of thirteen in
Pennsylvania.
But Giles was gone—retiring in disgust to the Legislature of Virginia.
The election was over—and the Reign of Terror was beginning.
VIII
It began in the summer of 1798 and extended through the autumn of

1800. The growing sentiment for democracy and the increasing popularity of
Jefferson were maddening to the Federalists, who fared forth to destroy both
with a club. The Alien and Sedition Laws were to be used for the purpose.
Democrats, from the highest to the most lowly, were to be proscribed and
treated with contempt. The New England clergy, for the most part, entered
heartily into the plan. The colleges joined. So openly partisan became the
institutions of learning that the Jeffersonian press opened their batteries upon
the ‘arbitrary spirit which has been exposed in the eastern seminaries.’[1519]
With much ceremony Doctors’ Degrees were being bestowed upon
Federalist politicians, and Pickering and Wolcott were made Doctors of Law.
‘Except Timothy’s vulgar diplomacy who ever heard of the qualifications in
him?’ asked the irreverent Duane, and while ‘Oliver has dabbled in politics
and glittered in prose’ ‘he would never have been discovered by the savants
had he not been in the Cabinet of a New England President.’[1520] Other
Federalist politicians were thus given the disguise of scholarship, but
Jefferson, President of the Philosophical Society, and friend of Franklin and
Rittenhouse, received no degrees.
Very early, gangs of self-proclaimed patriots sallied forth into the country
to tear down the liberty poles erected by the Democrats, armed with pistols
and swords, and clattering over the country roads like Cossacks on a
rampage. One of these gangs under the leadership of a Philip Strubling,
operating in Berks County, Pennsylvania, had a triumphant career, except
where armed men showed fight, when the gallant band found discretion the
better part of valor.[1521] This sort of outrage was being committed all over
the country. Plans were made to wreck the printing plant of Duane until it
was found that his friends had armed for defense, and the editor warned the
conspirators that an attempt at violence ‘would carry public vengeance to
their firesides.’[1522]
When thwarted in their plans against the leaders, the terrorists turned
upon the weak and lowly, demanding the discharge of Jeffersonian artisans
employed in the manufacture of war material. Out with them! ‘It is a
notorious fact,’ complained Fenno, ‘that a number of artisans ... are of
politics destructive of the Constitution.’[1523] Everywhere, in the pulpits of
political preachers, from the Bench of Federal Judges, through the press and
on the streets, men were beating upon the tom-toms arousing the
apprehensions of the people; and when, one night, some pirates, sentenced to
execution, escaped from the Philadelphia jail, the clatter of the mounted
soldiers in pursuit was enough to fill the streets with affrighted people. The
Germans of Northampton were marching on the city with pitchforks. The
soldiers were out after Duane, whispered others, and armed Democrats
rushed to the rescue. At length the fever subsided and order was restored.
‘Nothing more serious than the disturbance of love-making,’ said the

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Horizons : Exploring the Universe

Fourteenth Edition Michael A. Seeds

With MindTap media contributions

University of Central Florida.

Australia • Brazil • Mexico • Singapore • United Kingdom • United States

For our families

Part 2: The Stars

Part 3: The Universe of Galaxies

Part 4: The Solar System

Chapter 2 | A User’s Guide to the Sky 11 3-3 Scientific Arguments 32

2-1 THE STARS 12 4-1 Scientific Revolutions 52

Chapter 4 | The Origin of Modern Astronomy 45

4A An Ancient Model of the Universe 48–49

Chapter 7 | The Sun 114 8-2 Basic Scientific Data 159

7-1 THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE

7-2 SOLAR ACTIVITY 121 9-2 Mathematical Models 188

7B Solar Activity and the Sun–Earth Connection 130–131

10B Formation of Planetary Nebulae and

Reasoning with Numbers

11-2 BLACK HOLES 233 6-2 The Doppler Formula 111

Celestial Profile 1 | The Sun 116

12-1 Calibration 249

NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA/NSF/ESA/CXC/SAO/J. Hester (Arizona State Univ.)

Concept Art Portfolios

13A Galaxy Classification 272–273

13B Interacting Galaxies 284–285

13C Galaxy Jets and Radio Lobes 288–289

14A The Nature of Space-Time 312–313

Part 3: The Universe of Galaxies

Chapter 13 | Galaxies: Normal and Active 269

Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona/R. Kennicutt, SINGS Team

X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/Univ. of Massachusetts/Q. D. Wang et al.;

Chapter 14 | Modern Cosmology 298

Chapter 17 | Mercury, Venus, and Mars 374

Concept Art Portfolios

Mural by Peter Sawyer

Part 5: Life AFTERWORD 469

20-1 THE NATURE OF LIFE 450 GLOSSARY 482

20-2 LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE 454 ANSWERS TO EVEN-NUMBERED PROBLEMS 487

20-3 INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE 461 INDEX 488

xii A NOTE TO STUDENTS

A NOTE TO STUDENTS xiii

Infrared Astronomy) at NASA’s Ames Research Center. Dana is coauthor

ABOUT THE AUTHORS xv

This chapter is a jumping-off point for your exploration of

▶ How does human history fit into the history of the

NOAA/NASA GOES Project

CO1. Image of Earth from the GOES (Geostationary Operational

▲ Figure 1-3 This box ■ represents the relative size of

2 PART 1 THE SKY

Chapter 1 HERE AND NOW 3

Enlarge your field of view again by a factor of 100, and you

4 PART 1 THE SKY

▲ Figure 1-9 This box ■ represents the relative size of the

Chapter 1 HERE AND NOW 5

Milky Way Galaxy

6 PART 1 THE SKY

Chapter 1 HERE AND NOW 7

What Are We? 1 Participants

8 PART 1 THE SKY

Summary ▶ Although astronomy seems to be about stars and planets, it

Chapter 1 HERE AND NOW 9

10 PART 1 THE SKY