176
Reflection upon
Jupiter's Satellits, Longitudes would soon be exactly determined if Tubes of any Length could be managed at Sea. (w)(w) Vide Philosoph. Transact. n. 177. But Jupiter is not the only Planet about which things anciently unknown have been revealed by this noble Instrument. The Moon has been discovered to be an Earth endued with a libratory Motion, of an uneven Surface, which has something analogous to Hills and Dales, Plains and Seas; and a new Geography (if one may use that Word without a Blunder) with accurate Maps has been published by the great Hevelius (x),(x) Selenograph. and improved by Ricciolus (y), by which Eclipses may be observed much more nicely than could be done formerly.(y) Almagest. The Sun has been found to have Spots at some times; the Planets to move round their Axes; Saturn to have a Luminous Ring round about his Body, which in some Positions appears like two Handles, as they are commonly called, or large Prominencies on opposite Parts of his Limb[errata 1], carried along with him, beside Five Planets moving periodically about him, as those others do about Jupiter: The milky Way to be a Cluster of numberless Stars; the other parts of the Heaven to be filled with an incredible Number of fixed Stars, of which, if Hevelius's Globes are ever
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Errata
