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De Tellescopiis Stellarum (1666). Was Galileo experimenting with four-lens terrestrial telescopes by 1630?
Date
2026-05-12
Abstract
This paper presents a hitherto unknown seventeenth-century component-by-component description of a four-lens terrestrial telescope attributed to Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), complete with diagrams and measurements. The author is the Spanish friar Ignacio Muñoz O.P. (ca. 1608/1612-1686), who penned it on August 8, 1666, in Mexico City. The owner of the telescope was Antonio Sebastián de Toledo Molina y Salazar (1608-1715), II Marquis of Mancera and viceroy of New Spain (1664-1673). Images of the source, a transcription in the original Latin, an English translation, and the measured values derived from the piece-bypiece analysis are provided. The study also contextualizes the document and examines the reliability of the attribution, reflecting on its potential implications for the history of the telescope.
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis Group
Citation
Annals of Science
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Funding Information
Sustainable Development Goals
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License
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International