The Enchantment of Urania

25 Centuries of Exploraton of the Sky

Massimo Capaccioli University of Naples Federico II, Italy

Key Features

• Scientfc stories told in a captvatng wa , connected to each other b the thread o the general histor in order to give a contnuous resco o the evoluton o science in the conte t o the evoluton o the human civili aton

Descripton

Today we know much about the sky: how stars are born, how they live and die, and how the universe as a whole evolves. We have learned o the e istence o another t pe o ma er, indi erent to light and et decisive or the ormaton o gala ies, and we have a hint o a dark energ that since the last 4.5 billion ears has taken over the control o the cosmos. We postulated and then discovered and even photographed black holes and listened to the aint rustle o the space tme ripple produced when these monsters devour each other. We reached these astonishing results (recogni ed b a bunch o obel Pri es and flling ever da the media with wonders or the e es and the mind) b the marriage o ph sics and astronom that unifed the Earth with the sk and then b the leap orward o science and technolog in the wenteth Centur . his rich heritage has ancient roots. t was built b accumulatng discoveries with errors, observatons with antasies, m ths, and supersttons with ashes o genius, over a span o millennia, since Homo sapiens, turning his e es to the immutable and per ect sk , began to ask uestons.

he book is a narraton o the answers to these uestons that had evolved over tme a progressive path, inserted in the general histor , with some second thoughts and man obstacles. his is a saga o men and machines where greatness sometmes mi es with miser and passion o en borders on sacrifce and even mart rdom. Wh should we know it ecause our current knowledge is the result o these e orts and o the preconceptons that accompanied them.

he challenge has been to present this comple and intricate sub ect without resortng to an ormulas, so that it can be accessible to a wide audience o curious people, including high school and universit students and in general all those who normall keep themselves in ormed o scientfc things. rich bibliograph has also been added in the appendi or those wishing to learn more on one or more topics.

Author

Massimo Capaccioli has served as pro essor o astronom at the Universites o Padua and then o aples ederico , where he is currentl emeritus. He has investgated the d namics and evoluton o stellar s stems and the observatonal cosmolog and published over 550 scientfc artcles in internatonal ournals (citatons 3,740, H inde 58 source S ul 202 ). s a long tme director o the Capodimonte stronomical bservator in aples, he has conceived and managed, in s nerg with the European Southern bservator (ES ), the constructon o the L Surve elescope ( S ), one o the largest re ectors ull dedicated to astronomical surve s. He has chaired the talian stronomical Societ (S t) or a decade and or a three ear turn the atonal Societ o Sciences, Le ers, and rts in aples. ournalist and passionate publicist, he has collaborated with various talian newspapers and with the natonal public broadcastng compan o tal ( ). He has authored both universit te tbooks and popular books (mostl in talian), including rminio obile and the easurement o the Sk (Springer 20 2, with S Galano), ille o e. Stories rom the other world ( editerranean 20 8), ed oon. he Soviet con uest o space (Carocci 20 9), and he Enchantment o Urania 25 centuries o e ploratons o the sk (Carocci 2020), nce upon the tme in the sk . 30 short astronomical stories (Carocci 202 ). he list o his honors includes the ttle o Commander o the talian epublic or scientfc merits (2005), the honorar pro essorship granted b the Universit o oscow Lomonosov in 20 0, the honorar doctorate b the Universites o ubna ( ussia, 20 5), Kharkiv (Ukraine, 20 7), and P atgorsk ( ussia, 20 9), and the medals Struve (20 0 ussian cadem o Sciences), acchini (20 3 S t), Kara in (20 9 Kara in Universit , Kharkiv, Ukraine), and Gamov (20 9 Universit o dessa, Ukraine). He is a member o some academies in tal , o the cademia Europaea and o the atonal cadem o Ukraine.

January 2023

£85 | HARDCOVER 978 98 24 777 4

£40 | SOFTCOVER 978 98 24 927 3

Imprint: World Scientfc Publishing Compan

Extent: 550pp

Type: Popular ook

Main Subject: Ph sics

Sub-Subjects: stronom , stroph sics nd Cosmolog ( ncluding Geoph sics) Histor Science

Keywords: Stars Sun Earth Gala ies

Universe lack Holes ark Energ ark a er ncient stronom Greek stronom Histor o stronom Cosmolog Cosmogon stronomical nstruments

Readership: his is accessible to a wide audience o curious people, including high school and universit students and in general all those who normall keep themselves in ormed o scientfc things

Contents

• Pre ace

• ntroducton

• With the aked E e

• n ntrovert, a eactonar , and a isionar

• he Glass E e

• he Heroic ur

• he Celestal Laborator Cassini, Hu gens and radle

• irror o esires

• e ond the Pillar o Hercules

• he C clops

• Stop ime

• he Harmon o Light

• he eter and the easure

• ew World S mphon

• he undamental uilding locks

• he Eighth Wonder

• he Sun and the ther Stars

• stroph sics at the ime o the Cold War

• bserving with Closed E es

• he Last Hal Centur ad maiora

• cknowledgements

• ibliograph and otes