construction (other than showing Uranus as the new outermost planet), the second chart is altogether something different. Burges writes, “I have annexed to this work, a diagram, to which I have fixed threads, which when extended shows the perihelion distance of the comet – show the angle its orbit makes with the ecliptic, and the distance the Earth will be from it at that time – to be measured from the scale of the diagram”. Here we have a three-dimensional, predictive, scale model for the comet. While not the first pop-up book to be manufactured, the text by Burges may well be the first that was specifically produced to reveal the true spatial and temporal motion of a comet – albeit a comet that didn’t actually appear. The path of the comet, above and below the ecliptic plane, has been drawn on a semi-circular piece of paper that folds-up above and below the base page representing the ecliptic. The Earth’s orbit is drawn to scale along with date and position markers, and the attached threads can be set and used to determine the Earth and heliocentric distances to the comet on specific dates. For the price of the pamphlet, one could literally hold the orbit of the comet in the palm of ones hand.
Figure 1.22. Foldout map of the solar system by Bartholomew Burges (1789). The orbits are shown out to “planet Herschel” (Uranus), which was first identified by William Herschel in March of 1781. Along the cometary path can be read the following, “The path of the comet that appeared in the year 1532 and 1661 with period 128 yrs. 89 dys. 24 m. & will consequently be visible again on or before the 27 of April 1789”.
In addition to producing his pamphlet on the solar system and hyping the supposed appearance of the comet in 1789, Burges also set out to deliver a series of lectures on the topic in the Boston area. An advertisement [7] in the Boston Gazette for 16 February, 1789 indicates that these lectures will feature a display of astronomical apparatus. Indeed, we are told that the display constitutes, “two large Planispheres and Gilded Projectiles, displaying the Celestial Bodies, suspending in their due Proportion, and their orbits; and their relative and mean Distances from the Sun, with their moons and Satellites”. The exact layout of the system is not clear from the advertisement, but it would appear to be some kind of ceiling-mounted planetarium display that was being shown (figure 1.23
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
