Michael Mendillo

In this book, Boston University Professor of Astronomy Michael Mendillo takes readers deep into the annals of history, showing how visual depictions of the heavens evolved in tandem with science and religion throughout much of Western culture. With unprecedented scope and scale, Professor Mendillo explores how cave art, illuminated manuscripts, sculptures, paintings and architecture reflected some of the great religious and secular battles taking place over the course of centuries. Enter a world of biblical proportions, where constellations of ancient heroes and pagans were thoroughly recast as Christian saints and the Twelve Apostles. This nontechnical narrative brings vitality and accessibility to some of the most enduring subjects in human history, offering a lively new exploration of the visual connections between celestial phenomena and artistic expression. “Ever wonder how religion and art became forces of imagination on our night skies? Or how the night skies became forces of imagination on our religion and art? In this brilliant study of constellations and culture, Michael Mendillo, professor of astronomy at Boston University, reveals that the canopy of stars has been an ideologically contested space from the beginning, ensuring that the next time you look up, the sky will look completely different to you.”- Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director, Hayden Planetarium, American Museum of Natural History "Saints and Sinners impressionistically reveals the connections of art, astronomy, and religion in Western culture to illuminate the age-old quest for celestial-terrestrial connections.” - Roberta J.M. Olson, author of Giotto’s Portrait of Halley’s Comet and Cosmos: The Art and Science of the Universe “Professor Mendillo’s book does a priceless service, opening the doors of our minds to images that will stir us, because the heavens are part of us, and we all long to know how and why.” - Rev. David R. Thom, MIT Chaplain and Convener of the Cambridge Faculty Roundtable on Science, Art & Religion "Over a lifetime devoted to astronomical research and teaching, Michael Mendillo has indulged a parallel passion for artistic representations of the heavenly bodies. In this sumptuous volume, he explores the projection of our changing belief systems onto the constant stars.” - Dava Sobel, author of Longitude, Galileo’s Daughter and The Glass Universe

Saints and Sinners in the Sky: Astronomy, Religion and Art in Western Culture

Anthea J. Coster

Paul M. Kintner, Jr.

Tim Fuller-Rowell

Antony J. Mannucci

Roderick Heelis

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 181. Filling the need for a 20-year lag in substantial consideration of the midlatitude ionosphere, this volume focuses on work that takes advantage of GPS and UV imaging from satellites over the past decade, two methods that have profoundly transformed our understanding of this stratum of the atmosphere. Its interdisciplinary content brings together researchers of the solar wind, magnetosphere, ionosphere, thermosphere, polar and equatorial ionospheres, and space weather. Modeling and assimilative imaging of the ionosphere and thermosphere show for the first time the complex and global impact of midlatitude ionospheric storms. The editors invited the leading experts in the following areas to contribute the chapters herein: Characterization of Midlatitude Storms Electric Field Coupling From the Heliosphere and Inner Magnetosphere Thermospheric Control of the Midlatitude Ionosphere Ionospheric Irregularities Experimental Methods and New Techniques These themes were chosen to create a path for understanding the midlatitude ionosphere. They continue to be largely valid and represent a coherent division of the subject matter. They will be critical for understanding space weather during the upcoming solar maximum. This book was inspired by the Chapman Conference of the same name held January 2007.

Michael Mendillo

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