Jābir b. Aflaḥ on the four-eclipses method for finding the lunar anomaly period

The four-eclipse method was used by pre-Ptolemaic astronomers, especially Hipparchus, for finding the lunar period in anomaly. It is described by Ptolemy in Almagest IV.2 where he adds new considerations to be fulfilled in order to obtain a correct period in anomaly. Jabir b. Aflab, who lived in ear...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Bellver, José
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2006
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/376925
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/376925
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Greek astronomy
Medieval astronomy
Ibn Aflaḥ, Jābir
Iṣlāḥ al-Majisṭī
Ptolomy
Almagest
Hipparchus
Lunar theory
Lunar periods
Lunar eclipses
Astronomía griega
Astronomía medieval
Ibn Aflaḥ, Ŷābir
Iṣlāḥ al-Maŷisṭī
Ptolomeo
Almagesto
Hiparco
Teoría lunar
Fases lunares
Eclipses lunares
Descripción
Sumario:The four-eclipse method was used by pre-Ptolemaic astronomers, especially Hipparchus, for finding the lunar period in anomaly. It is described by Ptolemy in Almagest IV.2 where he adds new considerations to be fulfilled in order to obtain a correct period in anomaly. Jabir b. Aflab, who lived in early twelfth-century al-Andalus, considers this method in his Islāh al-Majistī. In his opinion, Ptolemy did not understand the conditions stated by the ancients. Jābir b. Aflah provides a complete set of conditions that makes Ptolemy's additions to the method unnecessary. In any case, the method presented by Jābir b. Aflah is more coherent and elegant from a mathematical point of view that Ptolemy's.