Skip to Main Content

Columbus Library

Home

Use Discover! above or the resources below to get the information you need for assignments.

Eclipse and Astronomy Themed Books

Cover shows a solar eclipse

In the shadow of the moon : the science, magic, and mystery of solar eclipses.

Anthony Aveni,. In the Shadow of the Moon : The Science, Magic, and Mystery of Solar Eclipses, Yale University Press, 2017. From an award-winning author, astronomer, and anthropologist, an exploration of the scientific and cultural significance of the mesmerizing cosmic display. Since the first humans looked up and saw the sun swallowed by darkness, our species has been captivated by solar eclipses. Astronomer and anthropologist Anthony Aveni explains the history and culture surrounding solar eclipses, from prehistoric Stonehenge to Babylonian creation myths, to a confirmation of Einstein's theory of general relativity, to a spectacle that left New York City in the moon's shadow, to future eclipses that will capture human imaginations. In one accessible and engaging read, Aveni explains the science behind the phenomenon, tracks eclipses across the ancient world, and examines the roles of solar eclipses in modern times to reveal the profound effects these cosmic events have had on human history. 

Drawings made by mayas

Star Gods of the Maya : Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars.

Susan Milbrath. (1999). Star Gods of the Maya : Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars: Vol. 1st ed. University of Texas Press.. Observations of the sun, moon, planets, and stars played a central role in ancient Maya lifeways, as they do today among contemporary Maya who maintain the traditional ways. This pathfinding book reconstructs ancient Maya astronomy and cosmology through the astronomical information encoded in Precolumbian Maya art and confirmed by the current practices of living Maya peoples. Susan Milbrath opens the book with a discussion of modern Maya beliefs about astronomy, along with essential information on naked-eye observation. She devotes subsequent chapters to Precolumbian astronomical imagery, which she traces back through time, starting from the Colonial and Postclassic eras. She delves into many aspects of the Maya astronomical images, including the major astronomical gods and their associated glyphs, astronomical almanacs in the Maya codices [painted books], and changes in the imagery of the heavens over time. 

Deep space image with vivid orange and blue

Breakthrough!: 100 Astronomical Images That Changed the World.

Robert Gendler, and  R. Jay GaBany. CHAM [SWITZERLAND] ; NEW YORK : SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING, [2015]. 

 

"This unique volume by two renowned astrophotographers unveils the science and history behind 100 of the most significant astronomical images of all time. The authors have carefully selected their list of images from across time and technology to bring to the reader the most relevant photographic images spanning all eras of modern astronomical history. Based on scientific evidence today we have a basic notion of how Earth and the universe came to be. The road to this knowledge was paved with 175 years of astronomical images acquired by the coupling of two revolutionary technologies - the camera and telescope.

Boy looking up at a solar eclipse

What is a solar eclipse?

Rau, Dana Meachen, 1971- author.  Dana Meachen Rau ; illustrated by Gregory Copeland.
New York : Penguin Workshop, [2024].  Juvenile.  
"Just in time for the third North American total solar eclipse of the twenty-first century, this book explains how to safely observe solar eclipses, how long eclipses last, and why they result in a blackout period during the day"-- Provided by publisher.
          Call Number  QB541.5 .R38 2024
          Location Columbus Library CTL - Juvenile

Eclipse graphic with American Eclipse written over the moon

American eclipse : a nation's epic race to catch the shadow of the moon and win the glory of the world

Baron, David, 1964- author. New York, N.Y. : Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, [2017] ©2017. 

On a scorching July afternoon in 1878, at the dawn of the Gilded Age, the moon's shadow descended on the American West, darkening skies from Montana Territory to Texas. This rare celestial event--a total solar eclipse--offered a priceless opportunity to solve some of the solar system's most enduring riddles, and it prompted a clutch of enterprising scientists to brave the wild frontier in a grueling race to the Rocky Mountains. Science journalist David Baron, long fascinated by eclipses, re-creates this epic tale of ambition, failure, and glory in a narrative that reveals as much about the historical trajectory of a striving young nation as it does about those scant three minutes when the blue sky blackened and stars appeared in mid-afternoon. American Eclipse animates the fierce jockeying that came to dominate late nineteenth-century American astronomy, revealing the challenges faced by three of the most determined eclipse chasers who participated in this adventure. 

Columbus Location Stacks QB541 .B2755 2017

Image of woman with telescope

Her eyes on the stars : Maria Mitchell, astronomer

Wallmark, Laurie, author.; illustrated by Liz Wong.[Berkeley, CA] : Creston Books, [2023] ©2023.  Maria Mitchell's curiosity about the night sky led her to spend hours studying the stars. She discovered a comet as a young woman, winning an award from the King of Denmark for being the first person to discover a new comet using a telescope. Now famous as "the lady astronomer," Maria went on to become a professional astronomer, an unheard of achievement for a woman in the 19th century. She was the first woman to get any kind of government job when she was hired by the United States Naval Observatory. Then as the first woman astronomy professor in the world, Maria used her position at Vassar College to teach young women to set their sights on the sky, training new generations of female astronomers. Her story inspires all of us to reach for the stars.

Columbus - University Library of Columbus Call Number QB36.M7 W35 2023

Location:Teaching Materials Center

Cover shows image of space

The very first light : the true inside story of the scientific journey back to the dawn of the universe

Mather, John C.. The very first light : the true inside story of the scientific journey back to the dawn of the universe / John C. Mather and John Boslough.
 
Presents an inside account of the fifteen year struggle to design, build, and launch the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite and discusses the politics, problems, and eventual termination of the project in light of the Challenger incident.
 
QB991.C64 M38 2008
Columbus Library - Stacks

image of the night sky

Hellenistic Astronomy : The Science in Its Contexts

Hellenistic Astronomy : The Science in Its Contexts, edited by Alan C. Bowen, and Francesca Rochberg, BRILL, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ivytech/detail.action?docID=6143714.

In Hellenistic Astronomy: The Science in Its Contexts, renowned scholars address questions about what the ancient science of the heavens was and the numerous contexts in which it was pursued.

 

 

Resource of the Month

Frequently Asked Questions

Ivy Tech Community College Libraries, 2023