| Chapter 1: | The New Astronomy |
was the “real break with the past” (Heninger 130) as it completed the threefold constitution of the New Astronomy. Therewith, Digges'position became potentially precarious because without a starry Firmament to separate the Empyrean from the physical World, scientific inquiry would extend to all of space, including the abode of the gods.
Digges couched his model in reverent terms:
From 1565, in chiefly poetic use, the word “orbe” in this excerpt can mean either the actual form of a celestial object or its apparent form (OED). Digges'phraseology mixes the two, confounding interpretation. The first few words define the celestial object in question (“this orbe of starres”), comprising the “perpetuall shininge glorius lightes.” He posited that its actual form is of infinite extent (“fixed infinitely up,” “lightes innumerable”), but its apparent form is spherical (“extendeth it self in altitude sphericallye”). It appears immobile (“and therefore immovable”) because if an infinite distribution were to spin, its inconceivably distant extremities would have an impossibly large speed. The ensemble itself is “therefore immovable.” Thus, the stars as a whole set the standard of rest, and their apparent circular motion is merely a reflection of the rotation of us, the observers on Earth.
Digges emphasized the role of the observer, “Herein can wee never sufficiently admire thys wonderfull & incomprehensible huge frame of goddes woorke proponed to our senses” (as cited in Johnson 165). Digges is using his sense of sight to admire God's handiwork and therefore his statement concerns appearances. He elaborated further on the apparent properties of the celestial lights that comprise the “Orbe.”