This book contains papers from a conference held to celebrate the 70th birthday of one of the world's foremost astronomical historians, Professor F. Richard Stephenson, the latest recipient of the American Astronomical Society's highest award for research in astronomical history, the LeRoy Doggett Prize. Reflecting Professor Stephenson's extensive research portfolio, this book brings together under one cover papers on four different areas of scholarship: applied historical astronomy (which Stephenson founded); Islamic astronomy; Oriental astronomy; and amateur astronomy.  These papers are penned by astronomers from Canada, China, England, France, Georgia, Iran, Japan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Portugal, Thailand and the USA. Its diverse coverage represents a wide cross-section of the history of astronomy community.  Under discussion are ways in which recent research using historical data has provided new insights into auroral and solar activity, supernovae and changes in the rotation rate of the Earth. It also presents readers with results of recent research on leading historical figures in Islamic and Oriental astronomy, and aspects of eighteenth and nineteenth century Australian, British, German and Portuguese amateur astronomy, including the fascinating 'amateur-turned-professional syndrome'.

Foreword.- Participants.- The Authors.- Conference Program.- Conference Photograph.- Part I: Applied Historical Astronomy.- The Length of the Day: Richard Stephenson's Contribution.- Determination of ¿T and Lunar Tidal Acceleration from Ancient Eclipses and Occultations.- The Legendary Fourth-Century Total Solar Eclipse in Georgia: Fact or Fantasy.- The Eclipse of Theon and Earth's Rotation.- A Homage to Richard Stephenson: French Observations of the Sun at the Time of the 'Sun King'.- Evidence for Recurrent Auroral Activity in the Twelfth and Seventeenth Centuries.- Historical Supernova Explosions in our Galaxy and their Remnants.- Part II: Islamic and Oriental Astronomy.- Historical Astronomy of the Caucasus: Sources from Georgia and Armenia.- Annular Eclipses and Considerations about Solar and Lunar Angular Diameters in Medieval Astronomy.- The Investigation of Stars, Star Clusters and Nebulae in ¿bd al-Räman al-¿ufi's Book of the Fixed Stars.- ¿bd al-Räman al-¿ufi's 3-Step Magnitude System.- A Thorough Collation of Astronomical Records in the Twenty-five Histories of China.- Some Statistical Aspects of Historical Chinese Astronomical Records.- Part III: Amateur Astronomy.- The Clash between William Herschel and the Great German 'Amateur' Astronomer Johann Schroeter.- Henry Beighton's Eclipse Chart.- Portuguese Amateur Astronomy (1850-1910).- The Amateur-Turned-Professional Syndrome: Two Australian Case Studies.- Index.