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Re: Galileo

I do not know what was their thinking about changing appearances of the
moon. But it is not true that similar changes would be expected if both
moon and sun were orbiting around us? Greeks knew that moon is much
closer to us than sun, and that both are much closer than the
"celestial sphere."
Ludwik Kowalski

On Saturday, Jul 17, 2004, at 09:40 America/New_York, David Abineri
wrote:

After watching the Nova on Galileo again I am struck by a question that
comes up in my classes every year for which I don't have a clear
answer.

With all the pre Copernican emphasis on heavenly objects being based on
the "perfect sphere" what was the thinking at that time about the moon
which to the naked eye looks far from "perfect". How did the naked eye
appearance of the earth's moon fit with the "perfect spheres" ideas
from
Ptolemy through Copernicus?

I would welcome any thoughts on this. Thanks,

David Abineri


--
dabineri@fuse.net