Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing "Hoax"

Introduction.

PART I: Bad Astronomy Begins at Home.

1. The Yolk's on You: Egg Balancing and the Equinox.

2. Flushed with Embarrassment: The Coriolis Effect and Your Bathroom.

3. Idiom's Delight: Bad Astronomy in Everyday Language.

PART II: From the Earth to the Moon.

4. Blue Skies Smiling at Me: Why the Sky Is Blue.

5. A Dash of Seasons: Why Summer Turns to Fall.

6. Phase the Nation: The Moon's Changing Face.

7. The Gravity of the Situation: The Moon and the Tides.

8. The Moon Hits Your Eye Like a Big Pizza Pie: The Big Moon Illusion.

PART III: Skies at Night Are Big and Bright.

9. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star: Why Stars Appear to Twinkle.

10. Star Light, Star White: Stars of Many Colors.

11. Well, Well: The Difficulty of Daylight Star Sighting.

12. The Brightest Star: Polaris-Just Another Face in the Crowd.

13. Shadows in the Sky: Eclipses and Sun-Watching.

14. The Disaster that Wasn't: The Great Planetary Alignment of 2000.

15. Meteors, Meteoroids, and Meteorites, Oh My!: The Impact of Meteors and Asteroids.

16. When the Universe Throws You a Curve: Misunderstanding the Beginning of It All.

PART IV: Artificial Intelligence.

17. Appalled at Apollo: Uncovering the Moon-Landing Hoax.

18. Worlds in Derision: Velikovsky vs. Modern Science.

19. In the Beginning: Creationism and Astronomy.

20. Misidentified Flying Objects: UFOs and Illusions of the Mind and Eye.

21. Mars Is in the Seventh House, But Venus Has Left the Building: Why Astrology Doesn't Work.

PARTV: Beam Me Up.

22. Hubble Trouble: Hubble Space Telescope Misconceptions.

23. Star Hustlers: Star Naming for Dummies.

24. Bad Astronomy Goes Hollywood: The Top-Ten Examples of Bad Astronomy in Major Motion Pictures.

Recommended Reading.

Acknowledgments.

Index.