THE IMAGE OF THE WORLD.

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CHAPTER SIX: That all the stars of the heaven are illuminated by the Sun, just as the Moon is: but there is a difference in how they receive light: for they differ in their capacity to receive it, just as they differ in the nobility of their nature: so that some are very pure and very noble. Therefore, in receiving light, it penetrates them in

Example.

an instant, from the surface facing the Sun through to the other side: thus an entire star remains clear and full of light. Others are also penetrated by the Sun, although they may lean toward some specific color by their nature: but, whatever the case may be, the Sun penetrates them all in an instant and fills them with light, like a candle that is lit by a fire. And it must be

The Zodiac is in the eighth heaven where the twelve signs are marked. A notable matter.

noted here that the Zodiac is in this eighth heaven, in which the twelve signs, or houses of the Sun, are marked. These signs are each composed of a certain number of stars: and besides these signs, there are thirty-six other images In this context, "images" refers to the traditional 48 Ptolemaic constellations., also composed of stars: so that there are forty-eight images in total. The number of stars that compose these signs and images is one thousand and twenty-two: of

The smallest fixed star, visible to the sight, is larger than the entire earth, with the exception of the planets: for they are not all larger than the earth.

which AlfraganAhmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kathir al-Farghani, a 9th-century Persian astronomer whose works were a primary source for European astronomy., in the third book of the Compendium of the Stars, says that the smallest fixed star visible to the eye is larger than the entire earth: and that if the whole body of the earth were placed where the fixed stars are (even if it had light), it could not be seen, because of the great distance and its smallness. But this authority should not be understood to apply to the planets, for they are not all larger than the earth; nor should it even be understood of all fixed stars. This is why he says "visible to the eye," meaning of a notable size in respect to sight: for there are some fixed stars so small that we cannot perceive them; there are also others that, even though we see them, are nevertheless not counted by Astrologers for being so small; but only the large ones, which are also not all of the same size or quantity, but of different sizes. And for this reason they are divided into six differences The system of stellar magnitudes, where stars are categorized by their brightness from first to sixth magnitude., as PtolemyClaudius Ptolemy, the 2nd-century Greco-Egyptian astronomer whose "Almagest" defined the geocentric model of the universe. places them in his Almagest, and King AlfonsoAlfonso X of Castile, who sponsored the creation of the "Alfonsine Tables" in the 13th century to update astronomical data. in his Tables.

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CHAPTER VIII.

The first doubt.

In the preceding chapter it was said that the Zodiac is in this eighth heaven, which is the seat of the signs and houses; regarding this, it seems one could doubt two things. The first is, since these signs or stars are in the