Facts, Fallacies, Unusual Observations, and Other Miscellaneous Gleanings

Abstract

Our ramblings through the byways of astronomical reports, ­observations, and speculations have brought us to a final collection of odd facts and curios that are worth including in our compendium, yet do not neatly fit into the categories marked out by previous chapters. This final chapter is therefore a mixture of interesting observations and anecdotes of “any other variety,” ranging literally from the sublime to the ridiculous and everything in between. From a browse through some accounts of difficult observations, to tales of fossil-like structures in meteorites to apparent blobs of gunk falling from the skies, from the anti-establishment views of Dr. George Waltemath and his crazy moons to that perennially interesting story of the Christmas Star, this chapter will range almost as far and as wide as astronomy itself.