Douglas MacDougal
Discovering the Universe ~
Stories and Histories of Earth, Sky and Motion
Author of Newton's Gravity ~ An Introductory Guide to the Mechanics of the Universe (Springer, 2012)
The orbital path of Mars relative to earth, 1600-1616, that I generated with mathematical software, after Kepler's similar drawing of the orbit from 1580 to 1596 using the data of Tycho Brahe,"on the assumption that the earth stands still, as Ptolemy and Brahe would have it." The original picture and quote are from Kepler's 1609 Astronomia Nova, translated by William H. Donahue, p.79 (Santa Fe: Green Lion Press, 2015)
My last project, Newton's Gravity, was published by Springer. Find out more about it on the NEWTON'S GRAVITY page here.
For a description of Springer's Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics series, click the link above.
My current project
Gary Seronik, my editor at Sky & Telescope magazine, sadly has retired. Not sadly for him – he's enjoying a nice retirement – but more for me. His deft editorial hand and eye over the years has decidedly improved my writing!
Many of you know that, in addition to the pleasure of learning about and sharing knowledge of the stars, I sometimes use my blog as a testing ground for ideas that turn into magazine pitches. Under Gary's editorial care, my rough drafts became articles for Sky & Telescope readers, wonderfully illustrated by S&T's amazing art department.
You may recognize some subjects in my published articles: Alas, Babylon! When Mars Draws Near (S&T, August 2021); Charles Greely Abbot and the Epic Hunt for The Solar Constant ( S&T, July 2022); Vesto Slipher’s Fast Stars and Hotrod Galaxies (S&T, September 2023); Understanding Saros Cycles (S&T, January 2024 cover story); A Stellar Revolution Turns 100 [about Cecelia Payne] (S&T, May 2025); Newton, Halley, and the ‘Prodigious Comet of the Year 1680’ (S&T, September 2025); and forthcoming (with Meg Thacher as my new editor), The Dangerous Lives of Sungrazer Comets (S&T, January 2027).
Sky & Telescope hasn't been by sole preoocupation, though. For instance, with the help of excellent and equal contributions by co-authors Marcia Bartusiak (MIT) and Joesph Marcus (Lowell Observatory Advisory Board) my research on Vesto Slipher also found a home in the December 2024 cover story of Astronomy magazine under the title, Renaming the Hubble Constant.
My newest non-magazine venture is coming soon! It is a new book from Springer: Ancient Skies: A First Look at Early Astronomy. If the schedule holds, Springer will release it later this year.
From the blurb on it: "Ancient Skies reconstructs the journey of mathematical astronomy from its nascent stages to the dawn of modern science, offering a vivid portrait of the early astronomers who observed the heavens with near obsessive thoroughness, charted the celestial sphere in new ways, and became the first scientists of the sky.”
Stay tuned!
