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Many Skies: Alternative Histories of the Sun, Moon, Planets, and Stars
What if Earth had several moons or massive rings like Saturn? What if the Sun were but one star in a double-star or triple-star system? What if Earth were the only planet circling the Sun?
These and other imaginative scenarios are the subject of Arthur Upgren's inventive book Many Alternative Histories of the Sun, Moon, Planets, and Stars. Although the night sky as we know it seems eternal and inevitable, Upgren reminds us that, just as easily, it could have been very different.
Had the solar sytem happened to be in the midst of a star cluster, we might have many more bright stars in the sky. Yet had it been located beyond the edge of the Milky Way galaxy, we might have no stars at all. If Venus or Mars had a moon as large as ours, we would be able to view it easily with the unaided eye. Given these or other alternative skies, what might Ptolemy or Copernicus have concluded about the center of the solar sytem and the Sun?
This book not only examines the changes in science that these alternative solar, stellar, and galactic arrangements would have brought, it also explores the different theologies, astrologies, and methods of tracking time that would have developed to reflect them. Our perception of our surroundings, the number of gods we worship, the symbols we use in art and literature, even the way we form nations and empires are all closely tied to our particular (and accidental) placement in the universe.
Many Skies , however, is not merely a fanciful play on what might have been. Upgren also explores the actual ways that human interferences such as light pollution are changing the night sky. Our atmosphere, he warns, will appear very different if we have belt of debris circling the globe and blotting out the stars, as will happen if advertisers one day pollute space with brilliant satellites displaying their products.
From fanciful to foreboding, the scenarios in Many Skies will both delight and inspire reflection, reminding us that ours is but one of many worldviews based on our experience of a universe that is as much a product of accident as it is of intention.
These and other imaginative scenarios are the subject of Arthur Upgren's inventive book Many Alternative Histories of the Sun, Moon, Planets, and Stars. Although the night sky as we know it seems eternal and inevitable, Upgren reminds us that, just as easily, it could have been very different.
Had the solar sytem happened to be in the midst of a star cluster, we might have many more bright stars in the sky. Yet had it been located beyond the edge of the Milky Way galaxy, we might have no stars at all. If Venus or Mars had a moon as large as ours, we would be able to view it easily with the unaided eye. Given these or other alternative skies, what might Ptolemy or Copernicus have concluded about the center of the solar sytem and the Sun?
This book not only examines the changes in science that these alternative solar, stellar, and galactic arrangements would have brought, it also explores the different theologies, astrologies, and methods of tracking time that would have developed to reflect them. Our perception of our surroundings, the number of gods we worship, the symbols we use in art and literature, even the way we form nations and empires are all closely tied to our particular (and accidental) placement in the universe.
Many Skies , however, is not merely a fanciful play on what might have been. Upgren also explores the actual ways that human interferences such as light pollution are changing the night sky. Our atmosphere, he warns, will appear very different if we have belt of debris circling the globe and blotting out the stars, as will happen if advertisers one day pollute space with brilliant satellites displaying their products.
From fanciful to foreboding, the scenarios in Many Skies will both delight and inspire reflection, reminding us that ours is but one of many worldviews based on our experience of a universe that is as much a product of accident as it is of intention.
198 pages, Hardcover
First published January 18, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 28, 2022
This is an extremely interesting book that examines astronomy and astrophysics from the perspective of what would happen if the world were not as we currently know it. What I mean by this is if our solar system was not comprised of eight planets, a single sun, and various numbers of moons around all but the first two planets how would this have changed human discovery of astronomy, physics, or our understanding of the world itself, and much more.
The book is structured to pose an alternate scenario to what we know as normal in our universe. In it Dr. Upgren deals with our near solar system, and looks at what it would be like if Earth had three moons? Going on from this what if we were in a trinary star system? He then goes on to explain how stellar magnitudes work, and discusses proper motion. He then speculates what science today would been like if Ptolemy's discovery that the sun was at the centre of the solar (fourteen hundred years before Copernicus proposed nearly the same thing) had been accepted. He then concludes the first section by looking at what would have changed if Earth was the only planet orbiting the sun.
He goes on in subsequent sections to talk about other topics such as what would Earth be like if we had rings like Saturn, were close to a very large planet, were part of a double planet system, and so on. He also writes about globular clusters, celestial mechanics and its history and so on.
Over the years I have dabbled in amateur astronomy, and have had the questions that Dr. Upgren poses in his book come to mind a number of times, but rarely was I ever able to find anyone who could answer them, or would be willing to even consider my interest.
As a writer, I have explored some of these questions more, and believe this book would be a valuable resource for any author of Science Fiction, or Fantasy who has a need to world-build and make it plausible (yes, I realise this actually contradicts the way some people define fantasy, but so be it).
Check it out.
The book is structured to pose an alternate scenario to what we know as normal in our universe. In it Dr. Upgren deals with our near solar system, and looks at what it would be like if Earth had three moons? Going on from this what if we were in a trinary star system? He then goes on to explain how stellar magnitudes work, and discusses proper motion. He then speculates what science today would been like if Ptolemy's discovery that the sun was at the centre of the solar (fourteen hundred years before Copernicus proposed nearly the same thing) had been accepted. He then concludes the first section by looking at what would have changed if Earth was the only planet orbiting the sun.
He goes on in subsequent sections to talk about other topics such as what would Earth be like if we had rings like Saturn, were close to a very large planet, were part of a double planet system, and so on. He also writes about globular clusters, celestial mechanics and its history and so on.
Over the years I have dabbled in amateur astronomy, and have had the questions that Dr. Upgren poses in his book come to mind a number of times, but rarely was I ever able to find anyone who could answer them, or would be willing to even consider my interest.
As a writer, I have explored some of these questions more, and believe this book would be a valuable resource for any author of Science Fiction, or Fantasy who has a need to world-build and make it plausible (yes, I realise this actually contradicts the way some people define fantasy, but so be it).
Check it out.
August 6, 2017
Alternate history has become a popular subject in recent years, both in terms of fiction and also in non-fiction, exploring such ideas as what would have happened if Napoleon had not been defeated at Waterloo or if the South had won the Civil War. Upgren in _Many Skies_, explored alternate solar, stellar, and galactic systems and arrangements and what effects these might have had on the history of the world.
Upgren divided the book into four sections, chapters in each section either exploring an alternate universe where the sky as it appears on Earth is different or discussing some aspect of astronomy as set-up to an idea for an alternate universe in a following chapter. The chapters described the different sky, why it was different, how this sky could have come to exist, what it would look like to an observer on Earth, and then what effects this might have had on the history of science and the history of the world in general. Often times the discussion of the effects were just questions the author would raise though in several cases he went into more detail. There were many diagrams and charts to help illustrate his points and Upgren did a good job of explaining astronomical terms such as proper motion, retrograde motion, and globular clusters when needed.
Part one looked at different systems and arrangements for our Sun and Moon. What if the Earth had three moons? What if the Earth had not one Sun but three? What if the Earth were alone in space with the Sun, with no Moon or other planets, comets, or asteroids?
Part two looked at alternate planets in our solar system, including our own. What if the Earth had rings? What if Jupiter existed in the orbit of our Venus? What if a bright planet, known to the ancients, orbited the Sun outside of the primary plane of the solar system, going far to the north or the south of the ecliptic? What if very bright comets were more frequent? What if Mars or Venus had a moon the size of our Moon (if Mars or Venus had a satellite as large and as bright as our Moon it would easily be seen by the unaided eye; if the Moon was seen from Venus when Venus is at its closest, about 26 million miles away, it would outshine all but the Sun and the Earth)?
Part three looked at alternate stellar and galactic systems and arrangements. What if a star close to the Earth became a supernova? What if the Pleiades Cluster was about as close as the Hyades is now, not thousands of light years away but instead only a hundred light years away, with its stars visible in the daytime? What if the solar system were above the galactic plane, perhaps well outside and to the north of it, with the northern sky completely black and empty to the naked eye?
Part four didn't really delve as much into different skies but touched on other topics, including issues of light pollution and astronomical causes of mass extinction on Earth.
Not surprisingly, many of the various scenarios dealt primarily with alternate histories of science (particularly astronomy) as a result of these different skies. In some cases these alternate skies were beneficial to science. If the Earth had more than one Sun and/or had more than one Moon, or if Jupiter or Venus had satellites visible to the naked eye it would have been possible that the heliocentric model of the solar system would have been adapted centuries earlier, perhaps in the days of the Roman Empire, as it would have been apparent to ancient astronomers that not every object orbited the Earth. Similarly, in an alternate universe with a closer Jupiter (in the orbit of Venus perhaps), close enough that the unaided eye could detect a disk; it would have been possible to see a full set of phases and lead the intelligent observer to conclude it orbited the Sun and not the Earth.
In other cases these alternate skies would not have helped the advancement of science. In an alternate universe where the Earth had rings, the only fully dark skies would exist near the poles, where the rings, lying on the equatorial plane, would be below the horizon and thus not visible. At lower latitudes the sky would always be too bright for the observation of faint objects and it is very likely that as a result the development of stellar astronomy would have been severely retarded. In a system with only the Sun and the Moon (no planets, comets, or asteroids), the issue of whether or not the Sun revolves around the Earth would likely not have been solved until the 18th or 19th centuries when the aberration of starlight and direct measure of stellar parallax could be accomplished with better instrumentation, Kepler's Laws of planetary motion could not have been devised, nor probably either Newton's laws of motion (or at least both would have been devised much later in history). Additionally, no concept of a week or a month would have suggested itself, producing perhaps changes in timekeeping.
Changes to world history would of course not be limited to just astronomy and Upgren does explore that as well. He suggested that if the Earth had had more than one Sun and/or Moon, it is possible that monotheistic religious would not have arisen at all or have arisen later in world history and perhaps in the present polytheistic religious would still be quite common and widespread. In an alternate universe where the northern sky is pure black (due to the solar system being well above the galactic plane), astrology would not have developed and many world mythologies would have been less rich.
An interesting and thought provoking book, my only complaints are that I would have liked more development of non-science-related historical topics as well as alternate evolutionary histories of life on Earth.
Upgren divided the book into four sections, chapters in each section either exploring an alternate universe where the sky as it appears on Earth is different or discussing some aspect of astronomy as set-up to an idea for an alternate universe in a following chapter. The chapters described the different sky, why it was different, how this sky could have come to exist, what it would look like to an observer on Earth, and then what effects this might have had on the history of science and the history of the world in general. Often times the discussion of the effects were just questions the author would raise though in several cases he went into more detail. There were many diagrams and charts to help illustrate his points and Upgren did a good job of explaining astronomical terms such as proper motion, retrograde motion, and globular clusters when needed.
Part one looked at different systems and arrangements for our Sun and Moon. What if the Earth had three moons? What if the Earth had not one Sun but three? What if the Earth were alone in space with the Sun, with no Moon or other planets, comets, or asteroids?
Part two looked at alternate planets in our solar system, including our own. What if the Earth had rings? What if Jupiter existed in the orbit of our Venus? What if a bright planet, known to the ancients, orbited the Sun outside of the primary plane of the solar system, going far to the north or the south of the ecliptic? What if very bright comets were more frequent? What if Mars or Venus had a moon the size of our Moon (if Mars or Venus had a satellite as large and as bright as our Moon it would easily be seen by the unaided eye; if the Moon was seen from Venus when Venus is at its closest, about 26 million miles away, it would outshine all but the Sun and the Earth)?
Part three looked at alternate stellar and galactic systems and arrangements. What if a star close to the Earth became a supernova? What if the Pleiades Cluster was about as close as the Hyades is now, not thousands of light years away but instead only a hundred light years away, with its stars visible in the daytime? What if the solar system were above the galactic plane, perhaps well outside and to the north of it, with the northern sky completely black and empty to the naked eye?
Part four didn't really delve as much into different skies but touched on other topics, including issues of light pollution and astronomical causes of mass extinction on Earth.
Not surprisingly, many of the various scenarios dealt primarily with alternate histories of science (particularly astronomy) as a result of these different skies. In some cases these alternate skies were beneficial to science. If the Earth had more than one Sun and/or had more than one Moon, or if Jupiter or Venus had satellites visible to the naked eye it would have been possible that the heliocentric model of the solar system would have been adapted centuries earlier, perhaps in the days of the Roman Empire, as it would have been apparent to ancient astronomers that not every object orbited the Earth. Similarly, in an alternate universe with a closer Jupiter (in the orbit of Venus perhaps), close enough that the unaided eye could detect a disk; it would have been possible to see a full set of phases and lead the intelligent observer to conclude it orbited the Sun and not the Earth.
In other cases these alternate skies would not have helped the advancement of science. In an alternate universe where the Earth had rings, the only fully dark skies would exist near the poles, where the rings, lying on the equatorial plane, would be below the horizon and thus not visible. At lower latitudes the sky would always be too bright for the observation of faint objects and it is very likely that as a result the development of stellar astronomy would have been severely retarded. In a system with only the Sun and the Moon (no planets, comets, or asteroids), the issue of whether or not the Sun revolves around the Earth would likely not have been solved until the 18th or 19th centuries when the aberration of starlight and direct measure of stellar parallax could be accomplished with better instrumentation, Kepler's Laws of planetary motion could not have been devised, nor probably either Newton's laws of motion (or at least both would have been devised much later in history). Additionally, no concept of a week or a month would have suggested itself, producing perhaps changes in timekeeping.
Changes to world history would of course not be limited to just astronomy and Upgren does explore that as well. He suggested that if the Earth had had more than one Sun and/or Moon, it is possible that monotheistic religious would not have arisen at all or have arisen later in world history and perhaps in the present polytheistic religious would still be quite common and widespread. In an alternate universe where the northern sky is pure black (due to the solar system being well above the galactic plane), astrology would not have developed and many world mythologies would have been less rich.
An interesting and thought provoking book, my only complaints are that I would have liked more development of non-science-related historical topics as well as alternate evolutionary histories of life on Earth.
April 14, 2023
2.5 a slog. whatever I was expecting this wasn't it.
March 23, 2009
The book has an intriguing idea: what would our lives, and our experience of the universe, be like if the Earth were situated differently - if it were the only planet circling the sun, if a giant planet like Jupiter orbited where Venus does now, if the moon were replaced by Venus, etc. The concept stimulates the imagination while offering Upgren opportunities to discuss principles of astronomy and celestial mechanics.
Unfortunately, it is not carried out as well as one might like. Upgren evidently cannot decide whether he is writing for a popular audience or one made up of fellow astronomers. (Hint - given the concept, he should be opting for the former.) He occasionally provides too little background for the non-professional reader, even one like me who has some grasp of the subject already; then he tends to repeat basic facts that don't really need to be restated even for the amateur. And he often stops part way - acknowledging that the presence of a planet nearly our own size in place of the moon would make the development of life on earth as we know it, he announces he will go ahead and ignore that fact to discuss how humans might have developed anyway. Fine - at least he is laying out his ground rules. But too many other times he assumes too much of our "normal" world will pertain despite major changes in our sense of the sky - the logical result of his imaginative venture is not fully realized.
Unfortunately, it is not carried out as well as one might like. Upgren evidently cannot decide whether he is writing for a popular audience or one made up of fellow astronomers. (Hint - given the concept, he should be opting for the former.) He occasionally provides too little background for the non-professional reader, even one like me who has some grasp of the subject already; then he tends to repeat basic facts that don't really need to be restated even for the amateur. And he often stops part way - acknowledging that the presence of a planet nearly our own size in place of the moon would make the development of life on earth as we know it, he announces he will go ahead and ignore that fact to discuss how humans might have developed anyway. Fine - at least he is laying out his ground rules. But too many other times he assumes too much of our "normal" world will pertain despite major changes in our sense of the sky - the logical result of his imaginative venture is not fully realized.
June 1, 2013
Less interesting than I was expecting
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews