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The story of the Viking world's most famous warrior, the legend of Beowulf is the ultimate tale of courage. Pit against thirsty invaders, barbaric monsters and a fire breathing dragon, Beowulf emerges as Norse mythology's greatest hero. But could this warrior have actually been real? Unearthed burial mounds and ancient carvings suggest the myth of Beowulf might have been more than epic legend.

Beginning with the separation of the fuzzy thinking and pious fraud of astrology from the careful observations of astronomy, Sagan follows the development of astronomical observation. Beginning with constellations and ceremonial calendars (such as those of the Anasazi), the story moves to the debate between Earth and Sun-centered models: Ptolemy and the geocentric worldview, Copernicus' theory, the data-gathering of Tycho Brahe, and the achievements of Johannes Kepler (Kepler's laws of planetary motion and the first science-fiction novel).