History of the Plurality of Worlds by Pierre Connes

Author:Pierre Connes
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030414481
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

In fine, Bruno leaves the reader with the impression that stars scintillate because they are fiery, and he is caught in a tangled web of correct facts and wrong interpretations. Indeed, stars do scintillate, while our planets do not, and Aristotle had known as much. Bruno understands the main point, i.e. that stars are hot and Sun-like and planets cold and Earth-like; however, the true (and purely atmospheric) cause of scintillation is quite complex, and would not be unraveled before Arago. The final explanation has nothing to do with stars being hot and fiery, but is due to their small apparent diameter, compared to planets. Even so, Nature had planted a valuable naked-eye hint about stars and planets being different creatures; this was picked up and understood, from wrong arguments, as indicating a physical difference between them, and Bruno seems to be the first who presents the point explicitly.

Next, if planets are cold, why are the five familiar ones visible at all? Cusanus had still thought necessary to enclose Earth, Moon, Sun and all planets within their own spheres of fire; Bruno quotes his lines about the Earth being no more vile than others, and also about the Sun harboring a kind of Earth in its center. By contrast, the Brunonian explanation looks quite modern, at least at first glance:There are then two sorts of bright bodies: fiery bodies which give their own primary light, and aqueous or crystalline bodies which give reflected or secondary light.

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