Category: Science - Physics

Astronomy Explained Upon Sir Isaac Newton's Principles And made easy to those who have not studied mathematics

This book uses a number of astronomical symbols, including signs of the Zodiac (♈, ♉, ♊, ♋, ♌, ♍, ♎, ♏, ♐, ♑, ♒, ♓), symbols for planets (☿, ♀, ⊕, ♂, ♃, ♄) and for the sun and moon (☉, 🌑︎). If these characters do not display correctly, you may have to use an alternative font,...

Chapters

31. Part 31

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | TABLE I. _The mean time of New Moon in_ March, _the mean Anomaly of the | | Sun and Moon, the Sun’s...

33. Part 33

+----------------------------------------------------+ | TABLE VII. _The number of Days, reckoned | | from the beginning of_ March, _answering to | | the Days of all the mean Ne...

15. Part 15

+------------------------------------++--------------++------------------------+ | Sidereal Years. || Julian Years.|| Solar Years. | +-------+---------+----+----+--------++-----...

3. Part 3

58. The Moon has no such Atmosphere, or body of air surrounding her as we have: for if she had, we could never see her edge so well defined as it appears; but there would be a s...

5. Part 5

106. Gravity also, like all other virtues or emanations issuing from a centre, decreases as the square of the distance increases: that is, a body at twice the distance attracts...

16. Part 16

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | A TABLE of the Equation of natural Days, shewing what Time it ought to | | be by th...

40. Part 40

439. The _Planetary Globe_. In this Machine, _T_ is a terrestrial Globe fixed on its Axis standing upright on the Pedestal _CDE_, on which is an Hour Circle, having its Index fi...

39. Part 39

The great flat Ring supported by twelve pillars, and on which the twelve Signs with their respective Degrees are laid down, is the Ecliptic; nearly in the center of it is the Su...

19. Part 19

279. Having rectified the Globe, turn it until the patch at _0_, about the beginning of ♓ Pisces on the half _LUI_ of the Ecliptic, comes to the Eastern side of the Horizon; and...

2. Part 2

23. This Planet appears to us with all the various phases of the Moon, when viewed at different times by a good telescope; save only that he never appears quite Full, because hi...

7. Part 7

140. The _Ptolemean System_ § 96, which asserts the Earth to be at rest in the Center of the Universe, and all the Planets with the Sun and Stars to move round it, is evidently...

6. Part 6

125. The Earth’s bulk is but a point, as that at _C_, compared to the Heavens; and therefore every inhabitant upon it, let him be where he will, as at _n_, _e_, _m_, _s_, &c. se...

20. Part 20

295. The cause of the Tides was discovered by KEPLER, who, in his _Introduction to the Physics of the Heavens_, thus explains it: “The Orb of the attracting power, which is in t...

21. Part 21

313. When the Sun’s light is so intercepted by the Moon, that to any place of the Earth the Sun appears partly or wholly covered, he is said to undergo an Eclipse; though proper...

12. Part 12

221. The fixed Stars appear to go round the Earth in 23 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds, and the Sun in 24 hours: so that the Stars gain three minutes 56 seconds upon the Sun every d...

9. Part 9

177. According to [42]Dr. KEILL, and other astronomical writers, it is entirely owing to the Atmosphere that the Heavens appear bright in the day-time. For, without an Atmospher...

17. Part 17

_The Moon’s surface mountainous: Her Phases described: Her path, and the paths of Jupiter’s Moons delineated: The proportions of the Diameters of their Orbits, and those of Satu...

10. Part 10

195. These last numbers shew, that although we have the relative distances of the Planets from the Sun to the greatest nicety, yet the best observers have not hitherto been able...

27. Part 27

339. Thus it appears, that from the vernal equinox to the autumnal, the North Pole is enlightened; and the Equator and all its parallels appear Semi-ellipses as seen from the Su...

8. Part 8

159. The celebrated ARCHIMEDES affirmed he could move the Earth if he had a place to stand on to manage his machinery[32]. This assertion is true in Theory, but, upon examinatio...

11. Part 11

Let _S_ be the Sun, _ABCDEFGH_ Saturn’s Orbit, and _IKLMNO_ the Earth’s Orbit. Both Saturn and the Earth move according to the order of the letters, and when Saturn is at _A_ hi...

42. Part 42

If a thread be tied loosely round two pins stuck in a table, and moderately stretched by the point of a black lead pencil carried round by an even motion and light pressure of t...

13. Part 13

230. This part of the Equation of time may perhaps be somewhat difficult to understand by a Figure, because both halves of the Ecliptic seem to be on the same side of the Globe;...

4. Part 4

86. Every person who looks upon, and compares the Systems of Moons together, which belong to Jupiter and Saturn, must be amazed at the vast magnitude of these two Planets, and t...

1. Part 1

This book uses a number of astronomical symbols, including signs of the Zodiac (♈, ♉, ♊, ♋, ♌, ♍, ♎, ♏, ♐, ♑, ♒, ♓), symbols for planets (☿, ♀, ⊕, ♂, ♃, ♄) and for the sun and m...

36. Part 36

If 11 days be added to the time of any New Moon in this Table, it will give the time thereof according to the _New Style_ till the year 1800. And if 14 days 18 hours 22 minutes...

18. Part 18

268. The Moon’s path being concave to the Sun throughout, demonstrates that her gravity towards the Sun, at her conjunction, exceeds her gravity towards the Earth. And if we con...

35. Part 35

410. The time measured by twelve Revolutions of the Moon, from the Sun to the Sun again, is called the _Lunar Year_; it contains 354 days 8 hours 48 minutes 37 seconds; and is t...

26. Part 26

The Eclipses from STRUYK were observed: those from RICCIOLUS calculated: the following from _L’Art de verifier les Dates_, are only those which are visible in _Europe_ for the p...

34. Part 34

391. The Stars are said to be fixed, because they have been generally observed to keep at the same distance from each other: their apparent diurnal revolutions being caused sole...

38. Part 38

+-------------------+------------------------------------------------+ | After Christ | Hundreds of Years. | +-------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+-----...

29. Part 29

359. PRECEPT I. We are to consider, that the beginning of Aries and of Libra, which are the Equinoctial Points, are equidistant from the beginning of Cancer and of Capricorn, wh...

41. Part 41

_Astronomy_, the great advantages arising from it both in our religious and civil concerns, 1 Discovers the laws by which the Planets move, and are retained in their Orbits, 2 _...

37. Part 37

431. The _Dionysian_ or vulgar Æra of _Christ_’s birth was about the end of the year of the _Julian_ Period 4713; and consequently the first year of his age, according to that a...

25. Part 25

+------+-----+----------+----------+----------+ | Aft. | | M. & D. | Middle | Digits | | Chr. | | | H. M. | eclipsed | +------+-----+----------+----------+----------+ | 1486 | �...

23. Part 23

+------+--------------------+-----+----------+---------+----------+ | Bef. | Eclipses of the Sun| | M. & D. | Middle | Digits | | Chr. | and Moon seen at | | | H. M. | eclipsed...

28. Part 28

+------------------------------------+----------+-------------+-------------+ | | | Sun’s Anom. | Moon’s Ano. | | | D. H. M. +-------------+-------------+ | | | s ° ʹ | s ° ʹ |...

30. Part 30

381. Apply one side of a Square to the Line of the Moon’s Path, and move the Square backward or forward until the other side cuts the same hour and minute both in the Path of th...

14. Part 14

+------------------------------------------------------------------+ | _A_ TABLE _shewing the Precession of the Equinoctial | | Points in the Heavens, both in Motion and Time; |...

22. Part 22

“324. For a farther illustration, THUCYDIDES relates, that a solar Eclipse happened on a Summer’s day in the afternoon, in the first year of the _Peloponnesian_ war, so great th...

43. Part 43

M. _Maupertuis_, in his dissertation on the figures of the Celestial Bodies (p. 61-63) is of opinion that some Stars, by their prodigious quick rotations on their Axes, may not...

32. Part 32

The first, second, third, and fourth Tables may be continued, by means of the sixth, to any length of time: for, by adding 12 Lunations to the mean time of the New or Full Moon...

24. Part 24