h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

kidnapper crabs? that is terrific

A27335036 - Star Constellations: Cassiopeia

I knew you'd love that..

I've replaced the opening lyrics with a lovely piece of poetry I just found.

It seems that there were two supernovas in Cassiopeia. The earlier one was 1572.

http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/9798/Nov19_97/nova.htm

It is speculated that Shakespeare would have seen it when he was 8 years old and it is further speculated that he included it in Hamlet

http://physics.weber.edu/carroll/honors/HamletSN.htm

excerpt:
'Dialogue between soldiers in the first scene of the play -- believed to have been written in 1600 -- describes a bright star and its position in the sky on a bitterly cold night.'

You might change the header 'Supernova' to 'Supernovae' and then insert immediately after that and before 'Cassiopeia A':

In November 1572, when Shakespeare would have been eight years old, a bright star appeared in Cassiopeia near the middle of the 'W' and shone for six months. Tycho Brahe made careful observations with a sextant of what he referred to as a 'new star' and determined that it wasn't moving and so really was a star. This unsettling discovery contradicted the accepted notion that the heavens were unchanging and caused much unease. It is thought that the dialogue between two soldiers in the first scene of Hamlet may have been about this 'new star'. Certainly it would be in line with the general theme of 'things going wrong'.


Then you could segue back with something like, 'As if this weren't bad enough, Cassiopeia A exploded on the scene around 340 years ago...'

(If this is merely meddlesome and not helpful at all, just give a swift kick in the pants to 2legs as supernovas are entirely his fault)

I've rewritten that section, and found a nice tie-in for the year 1600. I didn't know if they were your words or quoted from elsewhere so I rewrote the lot. I've added you to the credits.
Let me know if it's too clunky or doesn't work for you, or if you think it needs tweaking (I was tempted to write a synopsis of Hamlet but it might have got too nasty, so left well alone)

What I wrote was actually paraphrased and not quotes, but what you've written is tremendously better

I will say that as far as I can tell, the particular difficulty that the supernova presented was that it appeared to the people of that day to be a new star - which is at odds with the idea that everything was created all at once - or at least withing 6 days. So that notion ought to be interjected somewhere - perhaps in two places:

>>was believed to have been created by God as divinely perfect<<
->was believed to have been created all at once by God as divinely perfect<-

and

>>and stars orbit a fixed Earth (geocentric), was tantamount to sacrilege and blasphemy.<<
->and stars (no new ones, please) orbit a fixed Earth (geocentric), was tantamount to sacrilege and blasphemy.<-

or, you know, something like that


Excellent

done, thank you pailaway

Gnomon: May I have your permission to send the Cassiopeia chart off to the Eds as soon as she's picked?

I'm happy with this Entry unless anyone else has anything to add?

Looks good to me.

Well it must be time then

Have you seen what else is in PR?

I'll just go and print them out now

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've therefore moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!

Hey, congratulations!

Best end to an awful day I could've ever wished for, thanks you guys

to GB with

Actually I ate the so extra instead

Ooh, this is turning into a party!



cheers *hic*

mmmmmmmmmm