The sidereal messenger of Galileo Galilei : $b and a part of the preface to Kepler's Dioptrics containing the original account of Galileo's astronomical discoveriesGalilei, Galileo
History
The sidereal messenger of Galileo Galilei : $b and a part of the preface to Kepler's Dioptrics containing the original account of Galileo's astronomical discoveries
Galilei, Galileo
Astronomy -- Early works to 1800; Jupiter (Planet) -- Satellites
These phenomena which we have reviewed are observed in the bright
tracts of the Moon. In the great spots we do not see such differences
of depressions and prominences as we are compelled to recognise in the
brighter parts, owing to the change of their shapes under different
degrees of illumination by the Sun’s rays according to the manifold
variety of the Sun’s position with regard to the Moon. Still, in the
great spots there do exist some spaces rather less dark than the rest,
as I have noted in the illustrations, but these spaces always have the
same appearance, and the depth of their shadow is neither intensified
nor diminished; they do appear indeed sometimes a little more shaded,
sometimes a little less, but the change of colour is very slight,
according as the Sun’s rays fall upon them more or less obliquely;
and besides, they are joined to the adjacent parts of the spots with
a very gradual connection, so that their boundaries mingle and melt
into the surrounding region. But it is quite different with the spots
which occupy the brighter parts of the Moon’s surface, for, just as
if they were precipitous crags with numerous rugged and jagged peaks,
they have well-defined boundaries through the sharp contrast of light
and shade. Moreover, inside those great spots certain other tracts are
seen brighter than the surrounding region, and some of them very bright
indeed, but the appearance of these, as well as of the darker parts,
is always the same; there is no change of shape or brightness or depth
of shadow, so that it becomes a matter of certainty and beyond doubt
that their appearance is owing to real dissimilarity of parts, and
not to unevennesses only in their configuration, changing in different
ways the shadows of the same parts according to the variations of their
illumination by the Sun, which really happens in the case of the other
smaller spots occupying the brighter portion of the Moon, for day by
day they change, increase, decrease, or disappear, inasmuch as they
derive their origin only from the shadows of prominences.
[Sidenote: Explanation of the evenness of the illuminated part of
the circumference of the Moon’s orb by the analogy of terrestrial
phenomena, or by a possible lunar atmosphere.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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