909

On instruments for observing the moon.

If you want to prove why the moon appears larger than it is, when it reaches the horizon; take a lens which is highly convex on one surface and concave on the opposite, and place the concave side next the eye, and look at the object beyond the convex surface; by this means you will have produced an exact imitation of the atmosphere included beneath the sphere of fire and outside that of water; for this atmosphere is concave on the side next the earth, and convex towards the fire.

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

Notebooks of Leonoardo da Vinci
XIV: Anatomy, Zoology and Physiology.
. . .
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
On the moon’s halo.
908
On instruments for observing the moon.
909,
910
On the light of the stars.
911,
912,
913
Observations on the stars.
914
On history of astronomy.
915
Of time and its divisions.
916,
917,
918