Astronomy and the Heavenly Bodies
The nature, magnitude, distances, and motions of the sun, moon, and stars. The stars are not animated: neither heavens nor stars are rational. The sun contains the earth 160 times and is distant four million miles; it traverses over a million miles per hour. The firmament is distant eighty million miles. Stars of the first magnitude are 107 times larger than the earth. Against judicial astrology: the stars incline but do not necessitate the soul.
Chapter I (The Six Days of Creation)
-
Verse 14: Let There Be Lights in the Firmament
— The stars are not animated: neither heavens nor stars are rational; their circular, perpetual motion indicates an inanimate, determined nature.
"it is now certain that neither the heavens are rational, nor the stars; for neither the heavens nor the stars have an organic body."
-
Verse 14: Let There Be Lights in the Firmament
— Stars are specifically distinct from the orbs and from planets; they shine with their own light, proved by telescope observation.
"it is more true that all the stars and planets are specifically distinct from their orbs or heavens; likewise that the stars differ in species from the planets, and finally that the planets differ in species from one another."
-
Verse 16: And God Made Two Great Lights
— The sun contains the earth 160 times and is distant four million miles; it traverses 1,140,000 miles per hour.
"they teach that the sun contains within itself the whole quantity of the earth one hundred and sixty times, and that it is distant from the earth four million miles"
-
Verse 16: And God Made Two Great Lights
— The firmament is distant from the earth eighty million miles, and its thickness is the same.
"they teach that the earth is distant from the concavity of the firmament, or of the eighth and starry heaven, eighty million and a half miles"
-
Verse 16: And God Made Two Great Lights
— Six classes of stellar magnitude: stars of the first magnitude are 107 times larger than the earth; of the sixth, 18 times larger.
"Stars, they say, of the first and highest magnitude are 17 in number, each of which is larger than the whole earth one hundred and seven times"
-
Verse 16: And God Made Two Great Lights
— A millstone falling from the firmament would take 90 years to reach the earth.
"if a millstone began to fall from the convex surface of the firmament toward the earth, it would need ninety years to fall down and reach the earth"
-
Verse 14: Let There Be Lights in the Firmament
— Against judicial astrology: the stars incline but do not necessitate the soul; the wise man rules the stars.
"although the stars by their influence alter the disposition and temperament of bodies, and thereby incline the soul in the same direction, yet they do not necessitate it."