Patrick Moore's Armchair Astronomy

A much-honored British astronomer, Moore was only 11 when, in 1934, he was elected a full member of the British Astronomical Association. A scientist who delights in honoring amateur astronomers of the past and of our own day no less than he reveres the Galileos and the Herschels, here he taps his archival knowledge of astronomical lore and history. A warmly human personal approach informs his book. Often with infectious humor, he ranges from sketches of astronomy's oddballs, like the 17th century astronomer-pirate Basil Ringrose, to explanations of the way modern astronomers ""weigh'' a black hole or study quasars, pulsars or some newly-discovered galactic mystery, to an analysis of Ptolemy's moon-theories and speculations that our descendants may become Martians. Photos. January 20