Volume Volume2\Astronomy
Entry# 905. OF THE SPOTS ON THE MOON.
Contents: Vol. 1 | Vol. 2
OF THE SPOTS ON THE MOON.
It has been asserted, that the spots on the moon result from the
moon being of varying thinness or density; but if this were so, when
there is an eclipse of the moon the solar rays would pierce through
the portions which were thin as is alleged Footnote 3-5: _Eclissi_.
This word, as it seems to me, here means eclipses of the sun; and
the sense of the passage, as I understand it, is that by the
foregoing hypothesis the moon, when it comes between the sun and the
earth must appear as if pierced,--we may say like a sieve. . But as
we do not see this effect the opinion must be false.
Others say that the surface of the moon is smooth and polished and
that, like a mirror, it reflects in itself the image of our earth.
This view is also false, inasmuch as the land, where it is not
covered with water, presents various aspects and forms. Hence when
the moon is in the East it would reflect different spots from those
it would show when it is above us or in the West; now the spots on
the moon, as they are seen at full moon, never vary in the course of
its motion over our hemisphere. A second reason is that an object
reflected in a convex body takes up but a small portion of that
body, as is proved in perspective Footnote 18: _come e provato_.
This alludes to the accompanying diagram. . The third reason is that
when the moon is full, it only faces half the hemisphere of the
illuminated earth, on which only the ocean and other waters reflect
bright light, while the land makes spots on that brightness; thus
half of our earth would be seen girt round with the brightness of
the sea lighted up by the sun, and in the moon this reflection would
be the smallest part of that moon. Fourthly, a radiant body cannot
be reflected from another equally radiant; therefore the sea, since
it borrows its brightness from the sun,--as the moon does--, could
not cause the earth to be reflected in it, nor indeed could the body
of the sun be seen reflected in it, nor indeed any star opposite to
it.
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