"The path to a broader mode of cosmic observation was blazed by a cadre of nineteenth-century amateur astronomers and inventors, galvanized by the advent of photography, spectral analysis, and innovative technology to create the entirely new field of astrophysics. From William Bond, who turned his home into a functional observatory, to John and Henry Draper, a father and son team who were trailblazers of astrophotography and spectroscopy, to geniuses of invention such as Léon Foucault, and George Hale, who founded the Mount Wilson Observatory, Hirshfeld reveals the incredible stories--and the ambitious dreamers--behind the birth of modern astronomy."--Page 4 of cover.

Part I. Picturing the heavens. True eye and faithful hand -- The ingenious mechanic of Dorchester -- Writing with light -- Summits of silver -- The man with the oil-can -- The evangelists -- The aristocrat and the artisan -- Passion is good, obsession is better -- From closet to cosmos -- Leaves of glass -- The grandest failure -- An uncivil war -- Part II. Seeing the light. The odd couple -- What's my line? -- Laboratories of light -- Deconstructing the sun -- A strange cryptography -- Trumpets and telescopes -- Burn this note -- A spectacle of suns -- The cloud that wasn't there -- The union of two astronomies -- Part III. Money, mirrors, and madness. Mr. Hale of Chicago -- The universe in the mirror -- Threads to a web -- Size matters -- A night to remember -- Oculis subjecta fidelibus.