Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from ...

INDEX
ablation, 137
actuators, 95
adaptive optics (AO), 94–96
illustrated, 95
Albireo, 236
albumen, 11, 15, 16
Aldrin, Buzz, 165, 168–70
Al-Hazan, 83–84
aliens, 209–10, 234
theft of water by, 251–52
alignment of planets
in 1186, 128
in 1962, 127–28
in 2000 (see “Great” Planetary
Alignment of May 2000)
Alpha Centauri, 251
Alpha Ursa Minoris. See Polaris
amateur astronomers, 205–206
Amazing Randi, The, 218–19
American Association for the
Advancement of Science, 184
analogy, 215–16
Andromeda, 242
Angstroms, 28–29
annular eclipse, 123
Antares, 94, 101, 217
anticyclonic system, 24
antigravity, 146
Apollo missions, 29, 33, 191
“faking” of (see Moon-landing
“hoax”)
radiation and, 162
265
“Apollo Moon hoax,” 157
(see also Moon-landing “hoax”)
arcseconds, 91–92
Aristotle, 78, 104
Armageddon, 7, 139, 257
Armstrong, Neil, 165, 168–70
Association of Universities for
Research in Astronomy, Inc.,
243
asteroids, 30
debris from, 134–35
four biggest, 215
large, hitting Earth, 138–41
mining, 141
in the movies, 247–48
naming of, 215
astrology, 126, 212–20
astronomy and, 217
basic premise of, 213, 214
business of, 219
constellations and, 216–17
electromagnetism and, 214
gravity and, 214
as magic, 215–16
in newspapers, 219–20
planets orbiting stars and, 215
Randi’s experiment, 218–19
Reagan and, 220
as a religion, 213
solar system and, 215
vague predictions and, 213, 218,
219