History

  • system created 7 years, 9 months ago

    [Hypotheses] 1. That the Moon receives its light from the sun. 2. That the earth is in the relation of a point and centre to the sphere in which the moon moves. 3. That, when the moon appears to us halved, the great circle which divides the dark and the bright portions of the moon is in the direction of our eye. 4. That, when the moon appears to us halved, its distance from the sun is then less than a quadrant by one-thirtieth of a quadrant. 5. That the breadth of the (earth's) shadow is (that) of two moons. 6. That the moon subtends one fifteenth part of a sign of the zodiac.

    —  Aristarchus of Samos

  • system updated 6 years, 3 months ago

    [Hypotheses] 1. That the Moon receives its light from the sun. 2. That the earth is in the relation of a point and centre to the sphere in which the moon moves. 3. That, when the moon appears to us halved, the great circle which divides the dark and the bright portions of the moon is in the direction of our eye. 4. That, when the moon appears to us halved, its distance from the sun is then less than a quadrant by one-thirtieth of a quadrant. 5. That the breadth of the (earth's) shadow is (that) of two moons. 6. That the moon subtends one fifteenth part of a sign of the zodiac.

    —  Aristarchus of Samos

    Note "is less than a quadrant..." is less than 90° by l/30th of 90° or 3°, and is therefore equal to 87°.
    On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and the Moon (c. 250 BC)

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