The 30 greatest comets in science, art and culture
Comets have always fascinated mankind, especially those with tails that stand out clearly in the sky like bright torches. The population regarded them as harbingers of disaster and death, rods of wrath and signs of penance. Art repeatedly took up this motif and depicted it in many different ways. Science finally revealed comets to be particularly active small bodies in the solar system.
This impressive coffee-table book presents the 30 largest comets of modern times in an unprecedented wealth of historical drawings, prints, leaflets and photographs. The historical documents condense the feelings of people, the trials and tribulations of superstition and science over a period of more than 500 years. The image material, which has been painstakingly researched, is accompanied by informative texts. Each comet is described in detail, including its orbit and visibility, discovery and observations, as well as its reception by the public and the scientific knowledge gained. The result is a complete picture of these spectacular celestial phenomena.
The author Ronald Stoyan is the proprietor of the independent German publisher Oculum-Verlag, which specializes in amateur astronomy books. He has authored or co-authored twelve books on practical astronomy, including Atlas of the Messier Objects, The Cambridge Photographic Star Atlas, The Atlas of Great Comets and interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas.
