It will be seen that it requires the full energy of an elevated mind to undertake these intricate operations, for the use of the few who derive real pleasure from such abstruse subjects, and of the still smaller number of persons who can follow their recondite reasonings.
Adm. William Smyth, A Cycle of Celestial Objects (1844)A friend of mine, who is highly intelligent (he denies this) but has no formal background in astronomy, has asked me many questions on the subject. They catch me off-guard very often, for when you work in an area long enough you get used to the assumptions and language that everyone uses, and can forget what it's all about. Anyway, coming up with the answers has been a test of my ingenuity in explaining things as well as my grasp of the subject itself. Here I've set out some of our exchanges.
Under construction; to be continued