[41] Borelli. De vero Telescopii inventore, 1655.
[42] Encyclopædia Britannica. Art. TELESCOPE.
[43] Ibid.
[44] Telescopium, Venetiis, 1619.
[45] De phænomenis in orbe Lunæ. Venetiis, 1612.
CHAPTER VII.
_Discovery of Jupiter's
satellites—Kepler—Sizzi—Astrologers—Mæstlin—Horky—Mayer._
AS soon as Galileo had provided himself with a second instrument, he
began a careful examination of the heavenly bodies, and a series of
splendid discoveries soon rewarded his diligence. After considering the
beautiful appearances which the varied surface of the moon presented to
this new instrument, he turned his telescope towards Jupiter, and his
attention was soon arrested by the singular position of three small
stars, near the body of that planet, which appeared almost in a straight
line with it, and in the direction of the ecliptic. The following
evening he was surprised to find that two of the three which had been to
the eastward of the planet, now appeared on the contrary side, which he
could not reconcile with the apparent motion of Jupiter among the fixed
stars, as given by the tables. Observing these night after night, he
could not fail to remark that they changed their relative positions. A
fourth also appeared, and in a short time he could no longer refuse to
believe that these small stars were four moons, revolving round Jupiter
in the same manner in which our earth is accompanied by its single
attendant. In honour of his patron Cosmo, he named them the Medicæan
stars. As they are now hardly known by this appellation, his doubts,
whether he should call them Medicæan, after Cosmo's family, or Cosmical,
from his individual name, are become of less interest.
An extract from a letter which Galileo received on this occasion from
the court of France, will serve to show how highly the honour of giving
a name to these new planets was at that time appreciated, and also how
much was expected from Galileo's first success in examining the heavens.
"The second request, but the most pressing one which I can make to you,
is, that you should determine, if you discover any other fine star, to
call it by the name of the great star of France, as well as the most
brilliant of all the earth; and, if it seems fit to you, call it rather
by his proper name of Henri, than by the family name of Bourbon: thus
you will have an opportunity of doing a thing just and due and proper in
itself, and at the same time will render yourself and your family rich
and powerful for ever." The writer then proceeds to enumerate the
different claims of Henri IV. to this honour, not forgetting that he
married into the family of the Medici, &c.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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