The Meteor of 1860 by Frederic Church (Image courtesy of Judith Filenbaum Hernstadt)
See more: Our gallery of art and other images relating to the 1860 meteor procession
Donald Olson, a physicist at Texas State University, is the world's leading practitioner of forensic astronomy - examining classic works of art and literature that include references to celestial phenomena.
In many of his investigations, Olson and his students use the methods of modern astronomy to determine precisely where and when a particular work of art was created or to pinpoint the event that inspired it. For example, Olson analysed Vincent van Gogh's Moonrise, a painting depicting a glowing yellow orb looming behind the silhouette of a rocky outcrop. Olson was able to determine the exact spot in France from which van Gogh viewed the rising moon, as well as the precise time: 9:08 pm, 13 July 1889.
Olson doesn't restrict himself to painting - he has also examined Ansel Adams's photographs and several astronomical references in literature, from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales to Julius Caesar's account of his invasion of Britain.
I recently spoke with Olson about his latest project - an investigation of Walt Whitman's poem Year of Meteors (1859-60), published in his famous collection, Leaves of Grass. Olson's results have just been published in Sky & Telescope.
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