RADIUS ASTRONOMICUS (The astronomical radius)

We do not altogether reject the use of a radius, especially on journeys, since it is easily
transported and may be packed into quite a small box, although it is true that it cannot yield
quite accurate and certain stellar distances. I have such an instrument at my disposal
constructed, not by myself, but by Walter Arscenius, a grandson of the eminent mathematician
Gemma Frisius, who at one time lived in Louvain in Belgium, and who has written a small
book on it. It is all made of carefully joined brass plates, but inside it is wooden. It has
pinnules and divisions as described by Gemna in the book mentioned. The longest alidade, or
the radius proper, is a little more than three cubits [117 cm] long. It is of quadrangular cross-
section, the thickness being in both directions about equal to that of a rather big thumb. The
dimensions of the crossbar are about half of those of the radius proper, both in length and
thickness. In addition I had my craftsmen construct another radius also entirely of brass, but
hollow, without any wood inside. For wood has the property that if it is not subjected to a
special treatment it will force the brass plates with which it is covered to bend in the direction
in which the wood itself is bending on account of its own instability and the changing
influence of the air. The radius however which we made later, instead of four sides, had but
three, because this would reduce its weight, and these three surfaces would suffice for
carrying all the divisions. I made equidistant divisions on it, making use of transversal points
according to my custom, in order that it might fulfil the same purpose as a five-figure sine-
table, and in every respect give better results than Gemma's radius mentioned above, the latter
being provided with a non-uniform division arranged in another way which is, incidentally,
erroneous. With regard to length and width and other matters it resembles the previous one,
and it has the same kind of pinnules. Frankly however, no matter how this radius is
constructed it cannot, as I intimated before, give stellar distances precisely in accordance with
reality, not even the smaller distances up to 15 degrees, not to mention the greater ones where
the error is still larger. It will not be difficult to explain the reason for this on another
occasion, but here we shall aim at brevity. Nevertheless I have invented a means, by which it
is possible to remove completely the difficulties and errors of the radius, namely by the use of
pinnules provided with slits and a cylinder on this instrument also. As with the sextant,
distances are then measured by two observers sighting round the cylinder. About this we shall,
God willing, say more on another occasion when the instrument is completed, for it is now
under construction.