887

Considerations as to the size of the sun.

PROOF THAT THE NEARER YOU ARE TO THE SOURCE OF THE SOLAR RAYS, THE LARGER WILL THE REFLECTION OF THE SUN FROM THE SEA APPEAR TO YOU.

[Footnote: Lines 4 and fol. Compare Vol. I, Nos. 130, 131.] If it is from the centre that the sun employs its radiance to intensify the power of its whole mass, it is evident that the farther its rays extend, the more widely they will be divided; and this being so, you, whose eye is near the water that mirrors the sun, see but a small portion of the rays of the sun strike the surface of the water, and reflecting the form of the sun. But if you were near to the sun—as would be the case when the sun is on the meridian and the sea to the westward—you would see the sun, mirrored in the sea, of a very great size; because, as you are nearer to the sun, your eye taking in the rays nearer to the point of radiation takes more of them in, and a great splendour is the result. And in this way it can be proved that the moon must have seas which reflect the sun, and that the parts which do not shine are land.

Taken from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci edited by Jean Paul Richter, 1880.

Notebooks of Leonoardo da Vinci
XIV: Anatomy, Zoology and Physiology.
. . .
867
The principles of astronomical perspective.
868,
869,
870,
871,
872,
873
On the luminosity of the Earth in the universal space.
874,
875,
876,
877,
878
The question of the true and of the apparent size of the sun.
879,
880,
881,
882,
883,
884
Of the nature of Sunlight.
885
Considerations as to the size of the sun.
886,
887,
888,
889,
890,
891
On the luminousity of the moon.
892,
893,
894,
895,
896,
897,
898,
899,
900,
901
Explanation of the lumen cinereum in the moon.
902
On the spots in the moon.
903,
904,
905,
906,
907
. . .