Reviews

In addition to being a historian of as- The Haunted Observatory tronomy, with many papers published in this Journal, Richard Baum is a former Di- rector of the BAA Mercury and Venus Sec- Curiosities from the astronomer’s cabinet tion and is a renowned visual observer of the planets. His experience as an observer by Richard Baum astronomers whose work is described in is evident throughout the book. For exam- each essay. ple, when discussing nineteenth-century ob- Prometheus Books, New York, 2007. There are four new chapters – on strange servations of Venus, he demonstrates that ISBN 9781-59102-512-2. Pp 416, appearances of Venus, possible nineteenth- although the interpretations of detached £19.99 (hbk) century sightings of near-Earth objects, mov- spots on Venus as high mountains have ing objects seen near the Sun and a possible turned out to be fanciful, these early ob- The Haunted Observatory is a collection explanation of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s servers were honestly recording what they of essays on unexplained or erroneous ob- lines about ‘The hornéd Moon, with one saw. Modern observers see detail on Venus servations of the planets and other Solar bright Star / Almost atween the tips’. Each similar to that recorded by their forebears, System bodies by astronomers of the chapter is meticulously documented with and spacecraft discoveries have shown that past, mostly in the nineteenth and early many bibliographical ref- the features seen may twentieth centuries. Seven of its chap- erences, presented as well have been real de- ters were originally published in 1973 in endnotes at the rear of the tail in Venus’ clouds. The Planets: Some Myths and Realities volume, some of which are I greatly enjoyed The by the same author, but at around twice essays in their own right. Haunted Observatory. I the length of the original work, this is much For example, in the chap- recommend it to anyone more than a new edition. The essays from ter on Schröter’s observa- with an interest in the the old volume, covering subjects from tions of Venus, we learn history of Solar System searches for a satellite of the Moon to a in an endnote of the sad astronomy, and also to suspected planet beyond Neptune, have fate of his observatory, a the modern planetary been revised and expanded so extensively victim of Napoleon’s ar- observer, who will find as to have been effectively rewritten. For mies. Both the main text in its pages much fasci- example, we now learn that a body that and the endnotes are writ- nating reading and valu- was wrongly recorded as a new planet in ten at a level accessible to able instruction. 1831 was used by John Couch Adams to general readers and schol- Lee Macdonald predict the position of his supposed ars alike. There are also trans-Uranian planet, greatly reducing the many illustrations, includ- Lee Macdonald has observed accuracy of his prediction and so slowing ing a central section of col- the planets and the deep sky down James Challis’ hunt for Neptune our plates. The text is visually for many years. He is by giving him a much larger field to search. very accurate, and the very currently doing postgraduate Baum also enlivens his narratives with few errors are all merely work in the history of science colourful mini-biographies of the various typographical. at Cambridge University.

104 J. Br. Astron. Assoc. 118, 2, 2008