Publications

Webster Institute Publications / Adler Collections

Historic Scientific Instruments of the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, volume 2: Eastern Astrolabes
Author: David Pingree

In this volume the late David E. Pingree, who began to study these instruments in the 1960s, describes each of the Eastern Astrolabes in the Adler collection in great detail. A full photographic record illustrates each astrolabe. Less comprehensive descriptions of other Arabic, Persian, and Sanskrit instruments in the Adler collection provide students of these instruments an overview in this single volume.

ISBN: 1-891220-02-0

Available for purchase at The Antiques Collectors Club.

Historic Scientific Instruments of the Adler Planetarium,
Volume I: Western Astrolabes
Chicago: Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, 1998
Authors: Roderick S. Webster and Marjorie K. Webster

In this first volume of the Adler catalogue Marjorie and the late Roderick Webster, Adler Curators Emeriti, present the Western Astrolabes from the Adler collection. The earliest of these instruments date from the workshops of the greatest craftsmen of the Renaissance.

All are described here and illustrated lavishly. Introductory essays by the Websters and Sara Schechner explain the use of the astrolabe and its role in cultural and social history, while the appendices and bibliography provide information essential to the specialist.

ISBN: 1891220012

Available for purchase at The Antiques Collectors Club.

Telescopes: Through the Looking Glass
Author: Marvin Bolt

Note: Won first place for Chicago Book Clinic's 2009 Book & Media Show Awards In the Special Trade pictorial category.

Telescopes: Through the Looking Glass celebrates the 400th anniversary of the telescope and the 2009 International Year of Astronomy. This exhibition catalog focuses on ninety-nine artifacts from the Adler Planetarium's world-class collection.

From the simple lenses of the world's earliest telescopes 400 years ago to the complex computer-driven mirrors of current telescopes, these tools have gathered information about our nearest astronomical neighbors and the most distant objects in the universe.

Telescopes: Through the Looking Glass examines this story through books, works on paper, telescopes, and other instruments from the Adler collection. After brief introductions for each of four time periods, artifact entries describe each object and its place in the fascinating history of the telescope.

Telescope makers intended for their work to be looked at as well as looked through. With this catalogue, readers can enjoy the craftsmanship of telescope-making and catch a glimpse of the importance of these instruments and of the significant discoveries they enabled.

ISBN: 1-891220-06-3

Available for purchase at The Antiques Collectors Club.

Astronomy's Inspirations: A Guide to Art at the Adler
Chicago: Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, 2005

Science museums are not normally associated with art collections, but the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum's interdisciplinary approach to the study of astronomy ardently encompasses art.

The world-renowned History of Astronomy collection serves as a foundational source for art works, and the building and its environs offer an unusual and delightful entry into understanding the universe in ways that one might not expect.

ISBN: 1-8912220-04-7

Awestruck by the Majesty of the Heavens:
Artistic Perspectives from the History of Astronomy Collection
Chicago: Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, 1997
Author: Anna Felicity Friedman

This exhibition catalog was created to accompany an exhibit of selections from the Adler’s antique works on paper collection, held at the Chicago Cultural Center from January to March of 1997.

In addition to documenting an important 1997 exhibition, Awestruck serves both as a brief introduction to the subject of celestial charts and related works, and as a source for high quality illustrations of important and unusual pieces.

Designed by the Chicago firm Studio Blue, Awestruck was chosen one of the 50 best examples of book design in 1996 by the American Institute of Graphic Arts.

ISBN: 1891220004

Mapping the Universe
Chicago: Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, 2007
Author: Jodi Lacy

What are maps? Why chart the stars, Moon, and Universe? How are these maps used in science and everyday life? Mapping the Universe raises these questions by examining historic and contemporary star charts, Moon maps, and cosmological diagrams.

Combining science, philosophy, religion, and art, each map reveals the perspective and practical purpose of those who created it.

This catalog features full-color illustrations and in-depth descriptions of every artifact in Mapping the Universe, an exhibition held at the Adler Planetarium November 9, 2007 through January 27, 2008. With a few exceptions, all artifacts are drawn from the Adler's collections.

ISBN: 978-1-891220-05-0

The Universe Unveiled: Instruments and Images Through History
Chicago: Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, 2000
Authors: Bruce Stephenson, Marvin Bolt, & Anna Felicity Friedman

The Universe Unveiled documents the human desire through history to explore and understand our world. Its unique approach focuses on the instruments, books, and maps people have created to decipher the universe from the late fifteenth through the nineteenth century.

This richly illustrated book provides more than 270 full-color images of rare and unusual artifacts in the collection at the Adler Planetarium.

ISBN: 052179143X

Astrolabe Kit

This is a two-part publication--a kit for making a cardboard astrolabe and a booklet giving instruction for assembly and use of this instrument, with a brief history of the astrolabe.

The astrolabe has been computed for modern star positions, so that once it is assembled, it is possible to use it for today's night sky. In fact, it is used in several college courses to teach how an astrolabe functions.

Softcover plus kit (assembly required) 22 pages.

The Webster Institute's major ongoing publication project documents the collection in a multi-volume catalog, Historic Scientific Instruments of the Adler Planetarium. Catalog volumes in progress include:

Optical Instruments, by Marvin Bolt
Mathematical Instruments, by Michael Korey
Sundials, Part I, by Sara Schechner
Star Charts, Part I, by Anna Friedman Herlihy

Eastern Astrolabes & Western Astrolabes are currently distributed through The Antiques Collectors Club. You may purchase through their website or via mail:

ACC Distribution
6 West, 18th Street Suite 4B
New York, NY 10011
Telephone: 800-252-5231
Email: sales@antiquecc.com

New Publications

Planetary-Scale Terrain Composition, R. Kooima, J. Leigh, A. Johnson, D. Roberts, M. SubbaRao, T. DeFanti, IEEE TVCG Vol. 15, No. 5, 719 (2009).

Radio Imaging of the Very-High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emission Region in the Central Engine of a Radio Galaxy, The VERITAS Collaboration, the VLBA 43 GHz M 87 Monitoring Team, the H.E.S.S. Collaboration, the MAGIC Collaboration, Science, 325, 444 (2009).

Multiwavelength Observations of LS I +61° 303 with VERITAS, Swift, and RXTE, V. Acciari et al. (the VERITAS collaboration -- including L. Ciupik, L. Fortson, J. Grube, G. Gyuk, N. Karlsson and D. Steele), ApJ 700, 1034-1041 (2009).

Evidence for Long-Term Gamma-Ray and X -Ray Variability from the Unidentified TeV Source HESS J0632+057, V. Acciari et al. (the VERITAS collaboration -- including L. Ciupik, L. Fortson, J. Grube, G. Gyuk, N. Karlsson and D. Steele), ApJL 698 No. 2, L94-L97 (2009).

Observation of Extended Very High Energy Emission from the Supernova Remnant IC 443 with VERITAS, V. Acciari et al. (the VERITAS collaboration -- including L. Ciupik, L. Fortson, J. Grube, G. Gyuk, N. Karlsson and D. Steele), ApJL 698 No. 2, L133-L137 (2009).

VERITAS Observations of the BL Lac Object 1 ES 1 218+304, V. Acciari et al. (the VERITAS collaboration -- including L. Ciupik, L. Fortson, G. Gyuk, N. Karlsson and D. Steele), ApJ 695, 1 370 (2009).

Multiwavelength Observations of Markarian 421 in 2005-2006, D. Horan et al. (the VERITAS collaboration – including L. Ciupik, L. Fortson, G. Gyuk, N. Karlsson and D. Steele), ApJ 695, 596 (2009).

VERITAS Observations of a Very High Energy Gamma-Ray Flare from the Blazar 3C66A,V. Acciari et al. (the VERITAS collaboration -- including L. Ciupik, L. Fortson, G. Gyuk, N. Karlsson and D. Steele), ApJL 693 No. 2, 104 (2009).

The June 2008 Flare of Markarian 421 from Optical to TeV Energies, I. Donnarumma et al. (the VERITAS collaboration -- including L. Ciupik, L. Fortson, G. Gyuk, N. Karlsson and D. Steele): ApJL 691 No. 1, L13-L19 (2009).

Discovery of Very High Energy Gamma-Ray Radiation from the BL Lac 1 ES 0806+524, V. Acciari et al. (the VERITAS collaboration -- including L. Ciupik, L. Fortson, G. Gyuk, N. Karlsson and D. Steele), ApJL 690 No. 2, 126 (2009).

Along with the expected detections of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) in varying amounts across the sky, the IBEX team chronicle the remarkable discovery of many ENAs coming from a narrow band, or “ribbon.” In addition to the ENA detections and the ribbon, the team also announced the first detections of atoms of hydrogen and oxygen drifting inward from the interstellar medium, outside the heliosphere.

The first science results from the IBEX mission are summarized in five papers published online (please note that this link will take you to the IBEX website) in October 2009 by Science magazine. Along with the expected detections of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) in varying amounts across the sky, they chronicle the remarkable discovery of many ENAs coming from a narrow band, or “ribbon.” In addition to the ENA detections and the ribbon, the team also announced the first detections of atoms of hydrogen and oxygen drifting inward from the interstellar medium, outside the heliosphere.

Available Publications

Historic Scientific Instruments of the Adler Planetarium,
Volume II: Eastern Astrolabes
Chicago: Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, 2009
Author: David Pingree

In this volume the late David Pingree of Brown University presents the Eastern Astrolabes from the Adler collection. Forty-nine astrolabes from the Maghrib (the western Islamic world) and the Mashriqi (the eastern Islamic world) are described and illustrated lavishly.

A brief prefatory essay by Pingree places the instruments in context. For the convenience of scholars, he has also described twenty-seven related instruments from the same regions. Appendices and a bibliography provide information essential to the specialist.

ISBN: 1891220020

VERITAS Discovery of  >200 GeV Gamma-Ray Emission from the Intermediate-Frequency-Peaked BL Lacertae Object W Comae, V. Acciari et al. (the VERITAS collaboration -- including, L. Ciupik, L. Fortson, G. Gyuk, N. Karlsson and D. Steele), ApJL 684 No. 2, L73 – L77 (2008).

Massive Star Formation in the Molecular Ring Orbiting the Black Hole at the Galactic Center, F. Yusef-Zadeh, J. Braatz, M. Wardle, and D. Roberts, ApJL 683 No. 2, 147 (2008).

Simultaneous Chandra, CSO, and VLA Observations of SGR

A*: The Nature of the Flaring Activity, F. Yusef-Zadeh et al. (including D. Roberts), ApJ 682, 361 (2008).

First results from VERITAS, D. Hanna et al. (the VERITAS collaboration -- including L. Ciupik, L. Fortson, G. Gyuk, N. Karlsson and D. Steele), NIMA 588, 26 (2008).

Additional Ultracool White Dwarfs Found in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, H. Harris et al. (including G. Gyuk and M. SubbaRao), ApJ 679, 697 (2008).

Average Properties of a Large Sample of z_abs ~ z_em Associated Mg II Absorption Line Systems, D. Berk, (the SDSS collaboration -- including M. SubbaRao), ApJ 679, 239 (2008).

VERITAS Observations of the g-Ray Binary LS I +61 303, V. Acciari et al. (the VERITAS Collaboration -- including L. Ciupik, L. Fortson and D. Steele), ApJ 679, 1427 (2008).

The Observation of Gamma-Ray Emission from the Galaxy M87 above 250 GeV with VERITAS, V. Acciari et al. (the VERITAS Collaboration -- including L. Ciupik, L. Fortson and D. Steele), ApJ 679, 397 (2008).

The Sixth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, J. Adelman-McCarthy (The SDSS collaboration -- including M. SubbaRao), ApJS 1 75, 297 (2008).

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II Supernova Survey: Search Algorithm and Follow-Up Observations, M. Sako (SDSS collaboration --  including M. SubbaRao), AJ 135, 348 (2008).

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II Supernova Survey: Technical Summary, J. Frieman et al. (SDSS collaboration -- including M. SubbaRao); AJ, 1 35, 338 (2008).

The  Whipple  Observatory  10 m  gamma-ray  Telescope, 1996-2007, J. Kildea et al. (the VERITAS collaboration -- including L. Fortson), Astropart.Phys, 28, 182 (2007).

The Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, J. Adelman-McCarthy et al. (the SDSS collaboration -- including M. SubbaRao), ApJS, 172, 634 (2007).

The Variability of Polarized Radiation from Sgr A*, F. Yusef-Zadeh, M. Wardle, W. D. Cotton, C. O. Heinke, and D. A. Roberts, ApJL 668, 47 (2007).

Observations  of  the  Unidentified  TeV  Gamma-Ray  Source  TeV J2032+4130 with the Whipple Observatory 10 m Telescope, A. Konopelko et al. (the VERITAS collaboration -- including D. Steele), ApJ 658, 1062 (2007).

Very High Energy Observations of Gamma-Ray Burst Locations with the Whipple Telescope, D. Horan et al. (the VERITAS collaboration – including D. Steele), ApJ 655, 396 (2007).

Searching for TeV Blazar Candidates in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Barnaby, David A., Fortson, L., Gyuk, G., Steele, D., SubbaRao, M., Carini, M., Maune, J., AAS 38, 905 (2007).

On the Selection of AGN Neutrino Source Candidates for a Source Stacking Analysis With Neutrino Telescopes, A. Achterberg et al. (the Ice-Cube collaboration -- including D. Steele), Astropart. Phys. 26, 282-300 (2006)