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