Chapter II - Account of the Observation

Summary

Whilst I was meditating in what manner I should commence my observation of the planet Venus so as effectually to realize my expectations, the recent and admirable invention of the telescope afforded me the greatest delight, on account of its singular excellence and superior accuracy above all other instruments. For although the method which Kepler recommends in his treatise on Optics, of observing the diameter and eclipses of the sun through a plain aperture without the aid of glasses, is very ingenious, and in his opinion, on account of its freedom from refraction, preferable to the telescope; yet I was unable to make use of it, even if I had wished to do so, inasmuch as it does not shew the sun's image exactly, nor with sufficient distinctness, unless the distance from the aperture be very great, which the smallness of my apartment would not allow. Moreover I was afraid to risk the chance of losing the observation; a misfortune which happened to Schickard, and Mögling, the astronomer to the Prince of Hesse, as Gassendi tells us in his Mercury: for they, expecting to find the diameter of Mercury greater than it was reasonable to anticipate, made use of so large an aperture that it was impossible to distinguish the planet at all, as Schickard himself has clearly proved; and even though Venus gave promise of a larger diameter, and thereby in some measure lessened this apprehension, and I was able to adapt the aperture to my own convenience, yet in an observation that could never be repeated, I preferred encountering groundless fears to the certainty of disappointment.