Talk:Aristarchus On the Sizes and Distances

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Any feedback on this page would be greatly appreciated, especially verification of my numbers, both those of Aristarchus and the modern values. The images should be improved, but I don't have the programs to do it right now. --Dantheox 08:07, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

Typo: in the second construction, the label "t-s" should read "s-t". --Dantheox 08:09, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Distance to Sun and Moon

According to van Helden (1985, pp. 8-9) "Aristarchus did not calculate these absolute distances, however! After a determination of the ratio of volumes of the Moon and Earth, the tract ends abruptly."

Since the distances given in the table are apparently not in Aristarchus, they should be described clearly as modern reconstructions. Interestingly, van Helden gives two possible reconstructions, one (drawing on a value of the Moon's apparent diameter found in Aristarchus) yields your distances to the Moon of 20 earth radii, to the Sun of 380 e.r.; the other puts the Moon at 80 e.r, the Sun at 1,520 e.r. --SteveMcCluskey 15:29, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

Please make a note of this in the article as you see fit. That information certainly belongs in the article! --Dantheox 16:52, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

I suggest the article could use some editing to simplify it slightly. It is no major thing just that I find it unnecessarily difficult to read and one needs to re-read it a bit too much. It could for be stated for example that θ is the angular radius of the moon seen from earth and that d is the radius of the cone which represents the earths shadow. --83.226.131.224 14:13, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Also the most important hypothesis of Aristarchus, though very obvious but which he nevertheless stated, is that the moon receives its light from the sun. (Thomas L. Heath, Greek Astronomy, Dover Publications, 1991, p.100)

Furthermore Aristarchus could have underestimated the anglular distance between the sun and the moon as his result was amazing even as it was. Anaxagoras had to leave Athens for claiming that the sun was greater then the Peloponnese. Had he discovered that the distance to the sun was 380 times that of the moon he would surely have a hard time accepting it himself. --83.226.131.224 14:33, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Bug in Picture

I think the quantity t-s in the picture under "Lunar Eclipse" should be s-t. 69.124.189.188 05:47, 4 December 2007 (UTC)