In July 1878, a total solar eclipse plunged the American frontier into darkness for barely three minutes. What followed was a collision of science and frontier chaos!

A gunslinger named Texas Jack fires a revolver through a Wyoming hotel window to impress a young Thomas Edison. Edison retreats to a drafty chicken coop to test a sensitive new invention against the solar corona. A world-famous astronomer stakes his entire career on the hunt for “Vulcan”—a phantom planet hiding in the sun’s glare that doesn’t actually exist. And in Denver, pioneering astronomer Maria Mitchell and her crew of Vassar graduates mount their telescopes to take on Victorian prejudices about women in science.

From the gale-force winds of Rawlins to frostbitten astronomers shivering atop Pikes Peak, join Amy McGraw on The Garden Astronomer for the story of the Great Eclipse of 1878.

Written by Wayne McGraw. Narrated by Amy McGraw Visit gardenastronomer.com for podcast info.

Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons, Attribution 4.0 License.

Thanks for listening in, and clear skies!

On August 28, 1859, a telegraph operator in Washington, D.C., gets knocked to the floor by a spark at his desk. Four days later, two astronomers watch something erupt on the surface of the Sun. Follow the storm as it races across the Atlantic, lights up rooftops from Broadway to San Francisco Bay, and turns a Colorado mining camp into daylight at midnight. Then meet the man who caught it all on paper: Richard Carrington — and the tragedy that followed him for the rest of his life.

Written and narrated by Wayne McGraw. Visit gardenastronomer.com for podcast info.

Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons, Attribution 4.0 License.

Thanks for listening in, and clear skies!

How did a hardworking Kansas farm boy find his way to Pluto?

In this episode, we dive into the true story of Clyde Tombaugh. After Clyde spent months grinding telescope mirrors in an underground root cellar, a June hailstorm ruined his family's crops and his hopes for college. Discover how his salvaged farm parts and late-night planetary sketches earned him a one-way train ride to the Lowell Observatory. There, after endless hours and freezing nights, he came eye-to-eye with the planet Pluto.

Written by: Wayne McGraw. Narrated by: Amy McGraw

For more forgotten human stories in astronomy, visit gardenastronomer.com