Astronomical Report

the Pleiades original: Gluckhenne; literally "clucking hen," a traditional German name for the Pleiades star cluster., and Jupiter are seen very close to the Sun near the Eye of the Bull The star Aldebaran.. Solitary Mars stands malcontent and retrograde original: retrogradus; moving backward in the zodiac., like a cuckold original: Cornuten; a term for a "horned one," perhaps a play on Mars's astrological dignity or a metaphorical reference to his "dishonorable" position below the horizon. beneath the Earth, yet not without malice: for he prepares himself for resistance and intends to venture a third encounter A planetary conjunction. with Jupiter on the following October, at the end of Gemini and Sagittarius.

The other eclipse to be seen in our lands occurs on the Moon, in the night between the 18/28 and 19/29 of November after midnight, at 3:23 AM, according to the astronomically equalized time of Uraniborg original: tempore Uraniburgi astronomice aequato; referring to the time standard used at Tycho Brahe's observatory.. There the Moon will be obscured no more than by a third part toward the North; it begins at 2:15 and ends at 4:32.

Of several other great solar eclipses that appeared within 80 years.

I have no doubt that everyone who reads this description will soon wish to calculate for themselves that a heavy significance must be drawn from this for the aforementioned lands where the Sun will be entirely covered, especially for England and Scotland.

So that no one proceeds too hastily or imagines for themselves a futile sorrow or even a harmful security, it will be best for him to consider the great solar eclipses that have appeared within the last eighty years and compare them against the history that followed in those lands where they were greatest.

In the year 1544, on the 24th of January, at sunrise, the Sun was covered by the Moon such that Gemma Frisius A Dutch physician and mathematician (1508–1555) famous for his work in cartography and instruments. in Louvain in the Netherlands estimated the eclipse at 10 points A unit of measurement for the magnitude of an eclipse, where 12 points equals a total eclipse. from the bottom up: and he set the midpoint at 8:53. Funccius Johann Funck (1518–1566), a German astronomer and chronologist. estimated it at 11 digits original: Zölle; literally "inches," used here as a synonym for points of magnitude.. Near Stuttgart in the land of Württemberg, it became dark night again shortly after sunrise, accompanied by very great cold. Now, when I set the difference of meridians The difference in longitude expressed in time or degrees. between Uraniborg and Louvain at 8 degrees and the altitude of the Pole Latitude. at 50° 54', I find the greatest eclipse at 8:11 or, by the physical equalization of time, at the latest 8:24, about an hour after sunrise; at that time, no more than two and a half minutes Arc minutes of the solar diameter. of the Sun remained visible. It is therefore believable that Gemma Frisius looked at the Sun too late, at which time the remaining light—as he illustrates and indicates—was turned directly downward, which is after the midpoint. Likewise, the remaining light naturally spreads out, not only in the eye but also on the wall when the Sun shines through a hole into a dark room (as Gemma observed it and illustrated in his book). Thus, it can easily happen that one estimates something two and a half minutes wide on the Sun as being 4 or 5 minutes wide, depending on whether the hole is large or small. To say nothing of what the fiery substance Likely referring to the solar corona, which remains visible even during a total eclipse. around the Sun might cause during this appearance.

On the Stuttgart horizon, when I set the difference of meridians between Uraniborg and Stuttgart at 3 degrees and the altitude of the Pole at 48° 40', I find the midpoint at 8:29 or 8:42, a little more than an hour after sunrise, where the Sun is almost entirely covered for me.

And because both lights The Sun and the Moon. and the Head of the Dragon The ascending lunar node. stood in the 14th degree of Aquarius, the shadow of the Moon fell approximately in Spain...