First Magnitude

The following sections are included:

• Dedication

• CONTENTS

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

When I was young, I lived within a cluster of largish cities. More than half a century ago, lights were dim, skies still dark. From my back yard, I could easily see the Milky Way and stars as faint as my vision would allow. But the lights have had their way, and now seem almost too far gone to stop. They illuminate our towns, and are at times spectacularly pretty as they light big city buildings. But there are always tradeoffs, downsides, to everything. We have light to guide our way many times over, but we've lost the sky which we once could so easily love and admire. I can no longer see the Milky Way — the fabled path of ghostly light that is the combined radiance of the stars of our disk-shaped Galaxy — from my home in a small city. And of course it is in and near the cities where most of us live and work. So the sky appears obscured, leaving us unable to gaze at our awesome Universe.

The following sections are included:

• First, What Is It?

• And Then, Where Is It?

• Other Places

• Seasonings

• Time

• Days and Years

• Action!

• Under the Rainbow

The following sections are included:

• Earth First

• By Contrast…

• Devastation

• Origins

• And of Earth?

• Where and When: the Phase Cycle

• Back and Front

• Some Oddities Involving the Full Moon

• Calendar Issues

• Seasons of the Moon

• Tidal Waters

• Dueling Months

• Rings and Things

• Shadows

• Shades of the Moon

• Taming the Occult

The following sections are included:

• Instant Recognition

• Looking for Venus and Mercury?

• Of Jupiter and Saturn

• And Then There's Mars

• What Did the Ancients Make of All This?

• Movements Made Simple

• Visitations

• Follow the Rules

• Crescent of Venus

• “Eclipses”

• Eccentricity

• The Real Thing

• Mercury

• Venus

• Mars

• Jupiter and Saturn

• Uranus and Neptune

• Pluto

The following sections are included:

• Number

• The Constellations

• Star Names

• A Galaxy of Stars

• Stars

• Really Big Stars

The following sections are included:

• Arcturus (Alpha Boötis)

• Spica (Alpha Virginis)

• Antares (Alpha Scorpii)

• Vega (Alpha Lyrae)

• Altair (Alpha Aquilae)

• Deneb (Alpha Cygni)

• Fomalhaut (Alpha Piscis Austrini)

• Achernar (Alpha Eridani)

• Capella (Alpha Aurigae)

• Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri)

• Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis)

• Rigel (Beta Orionis)

• Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris)

• Adhara (Epsilon Canis Majoris)

• Canopus (Alpha Carinae)

• Castor (Alpha Geminorum) with a Little Help from Pollux

• Pollux (Beta Geminorum)

• Procyon (Alpha Canis Minoris)

• Regulus (Alpha Leonis)

• Acrux (Alpha Crucis) with a Preview of Mimosa (Beta Crucis)

• Mimosa (Beta Crucis)

• Hadar (Beta Centauri) with Alpha Not Far Behind

• And Finally Rigil Kentaurus (Alpha Centauri)

The following sections are included:

• Failed Planet

• Arrival

• On the Ground

• Hard on the Ground or You Don't Want To Be Anywhere Around

• Frozen Leftovers

• Comet Return, Route 1

• Comet Cocktail

• Comet Return, Route 2

• Great Comets

• Collision

• Comet Flakes

• Hot Showers

The following sections are included:

• Nova

• And Here They Are

• Supernova

• The Crab Walks at Midnight

• Double Down

• Eruption

• Rare As They Come But Oh What a Sight One Would Be

• “First Magnitude”

The following sections are included:

• INDEX