Weird Astronomy

Book excerpt: Weird Astronomy appeals to all who are interested in unusual celestial phenomena, whether they be amateur or professional astronomers or science buffs who just enjoy reading of odd coincidences, unexplained observations, and reports from space probes that "don’t quite fit." This book relates a variety of "unusual" astronomical observations – unusual in the sense of refusing to fit easily into accepted thinking, or unusual in the observation having been made under difficult or extreme circumstances. Although some of the topics covered are instances of "bad astronomy," most are not. Some of the observations recorded here have actually turned out to be important scientific breakthroughs. Included are some amusing anecdotes (such as the incident involving "potassium flares" in ordinary stars and the story of Abba 1, the solar system’s own flare star!), but the book’s purpose is not to ridicule those who report anomalous observations, nor is it to challenge scientific orthodoxy. It is more to demonstrate how what's "weird" often turns out to be far more significant than observations of what we expect to see.