Table of Contents

Prologue 1. Why Is the Sky Dark at Night? I The Riddle Begins 2. Three Rival Systems 3. Celestial Light 4. The Starry Message II The Riddle Develops 5. The Cartesian System 6. Newton's Needles and Halley's Shells 7. A Forest of Stars 8. The Misty Forest 9. Worlds on Worlds 10. Revelations of Chaos III The Riddle Continues 11. The Fractal Universe 12. The Visible Universe 13. The Golden Walls of Edgar Allan Poe 14. Lord Kelvin Sees the Light 15. Ether Voids, Curved Space, and a Midnight Sun 16. The Expanding Universe 17. The Cosmic Redshift 18. Energy in the Universe Epilogue Proposed Solutions to the Riddle of Darkness at Night Appendixes 1. Digges on the Infinity of the Universe 2. Halley on the Infinity of the Sphere of Stars 3. Chéseaux Explains the Riddle of Darkness 4. Olbers Revives the Riddle of Darkness 5. Kelvin on an Old and Celebrated Hypothesis Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author

Edward Harrison was Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Reviews

Beguiling… A veritable Cook’s tour through the history of astronomy.
*Nature*

The night sky is dark. The question is why… Mr. Harrison has an answer, but to state it here seems as unfair as giving away the final chapter of a mystery story. Better to read his book.
*New York Times Book Review*

Harrison…does a rare thing here: he manages to combine history and real science… A remarkable book.
*New Yorker*

From his years of contemplation of the riddle of the dark sky, Harrison has now distilled a truly wonderful book. Darkness at Night is superbly written [and] excellently illustrated.
*New Scientist*

Darkness at Night is a very elegantly written history… I think Harrison has written a beautiful book, the best available on Olber’s paradox… Be sure not to miss this one.
*Times Higher Education Supplement*