Used by permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library.
In
the ancient and medieval world view, the universe is bounded by an outer
sphere containing all the stars. The outer starry sphere is simply a
region of heaven, centered on the Earth, in this drawing (above) from
a 1566 book by Leonard Digges. His son Thomas finally recognized that
the sphere of stars was not logically needed in a universe where the
Earth rotated. His drawing (below), centered on the Sun, shows the stars
scattered through a vast open space.
Copyright
uncertain, see this note.
