Project Gutenberg 2016-10-29 Public domain in the USA. 230 Jacoby, Harold 1865 1932 Practical Talks by an Astronomer Navigation at sea -- The Pleiades -- The pole-star -- Nebulæ -- Temporary stars -- Galileo -- The planet of 1898 -- How to make a sun-dial -- Photography in astronomy -- Time standards of the world -- Motions of the earth's pole -- Saturn's rings -- The heliometer -- Occultations -- Mounting great telescopes -- The astronomer's pole -- The moon hoax -- The sun's destination. Produced by Chris Curnow, John Campbell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) "Practical Talks by an Astronomer" by Harold Jacoby is a collection of engaging essays on astronomy written in the late 19th century. The work does not aim to serve as a comprehensive text on the subject; rather, it selectively explores intriguing topics within astronomy, using accessible language designed for a general audience. The book potentially appeals to readers who possess a casual interest in celestial phenomena without delving into overly technical detail. The opening of the work introduces the concept of using astronomy for navigation at sea, recounting historical methods and instruments used by maritime captains in times prior to modern navigation tools. Jacoby shares anecdotes from an old sea captain regarding how ships relied solely on a compass and observational techniques, like utilizing a sextant to measure the sun's position at noon, to determine their latitude, demonstrating the blend of history and science that characterizes the book. This approach highlights the practical significance of astronomical knowledge while piquing curiosity about the interconnections between science and navigation. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 55.2 (10th to 12th grade). Somewhat difficult to read. en Astronomy QB Text Browsing: Science - Astronomy Browsing: Science - General Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches Category: Science - Physics 368959 2025-06-21T10:07:48.866222 text/html 340381 2024-10-23T01:19:13 text/html 683692 2025-06-21T10:07:56.886219 application/epub+zip 686300 2025-06-21T10:07:50.577228 application/epub+zip 196723 2025-06-21T10:07:49.707245 application/epub+zip 803129 2025-06-21T10:08:01.406139 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 775571 2025-06-21T10:07:56.024236 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 287886 2022-09-24T08:51:37.362872 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 282775 2025-06-21T10:07:47.819241 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 262803 2024-10-23T01:19:13 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 16513 2025-06-21T10:08:01.566148 application/rdf+xml 24144 2025-06-21T10:07:49.853210 image/jpeg 4005 2025-06-21T10:07:49.776195 image/jpeg 719912 2025-06-21T10:07:48.928228 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia