Date: 25 Aug 2006 03:42:17
From: oriel36
Subject: Divisions of astronomy
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Kepler correctly identified the various divisions of astronomy with the
intuitive astronomer being a rare type, is assigned the highest rank -
"To set down in books the apparent paths of the planets [viasplanetarum
apparentes] and the record of their motions is especially the task of
the practical and mechanical part of astronomy; to discover their true
and genuine path [vias vero veras et genuinas] is . . .the task of
contemplative astronomy; while to say by what circleand lines correct
images of those true motions may be depicted onpaper is the concern of
the inferior tribunal of geometers" Kepler
The inferior tribunal of geometers,being more cunning now call
themselves cosmologists,the mechanical astronomers are now
astrophotographers who have allied themselves with the empiricists and
that rare type of astronomer was almost wiped out of astronomy even
though this group created the great systems of timekeeping,observations
and celestial structural proposals based on physical considerations.
As you will soon discover,the repulsion of this meaningless fuss over
demotion or elevation of planetary staus through definitional arguments
was always the preserve of the mediocre for astronomy is always
expansive,majestic and does not suffer the dull and the dour who would
turn it into a cistern rather than a fountain that it really is
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