[AZ-Observing] Robert Burnham Quotes

  • From: Gene A Lucas <geneluca@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:03:29 -0700

Appropriate to the upcoming dedication this Saturday, I happened to be 
reading a book by James Mullaney, and ran across several good quotes by 
Robert Burnham, Jr., which I have copied below. (These are likely from 
Burnham's Celestial Handbook; sources not given by Mullaney.)
Gene Lucas
(17250)

ROBERT BURNHAM, JR. -- Quotes on astronomy
 From “Double and Multiple Stars, and How to Observe Them”, by James 
Mullaney
Springer, 2005 ISBN 1-85233-751-6

“Aesthetic and Philosophical Considerations,” pp. 88-90.
(From among some 33 quotes from many well-known observers, Mullaney 
selected these three from Robert Burnham...)

“The appeal of stargazing is both intellectual and aesthetic; it 
combines the thrill of exploration and discovery, the fun of 
sight-seeing, and the sheer joy of first-hand acquaintance with 
incredibly wonderful and beautiful things.”

“The amateur astronomer has access at all times to the original objects 
of his study; the masterworks of the heavens belong to him as much as to 
the great observatories of the world. And there is no privilege like 
that of being allowed to stand in the presence of the original.”

“To turn from this increasingly artificial and strangely alien world is 
to escape from unreality. To return to the timeless world of the 
mountains, the sea, the forest, and the stars is to return to sanity and 
truth.”



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