What question did this study set out to answer?

The study aims to clarify whether Galileo experimented with four-lens terrestrial telescopes by 1630.

June 18, 2026Open Access

De Tellescopiis Stellarum (1666). Was Galileo experimenting with four-lens terrestrial telescopes by 1630?

Key Points

The study aims to clarify whether Galileo experimented with four-lens terrestrial telescopes by 1630.
Analyzed a detailed description of a four-lens telescope attributed to Galileo, including diagrams and measurements.
Provided a transcription and English translation of original Latin text.
Contextualized the document regarding the history and reliability of the telescope's attribution.
Detailed descriptions and diagrams of a four-lens telescope from 1666 were presented.
The attribution to Galileo was critically analyzed, offering new insights into the history of telescopes.
Implications for understanding technological advancements in telescope design during the seventeenth century were discussed.

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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