Astronomical Images : Two fixed stars and a comet

Daniel Santbech

Astronomical Images

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Daniel Santbech's <i>Problemata</i> is a miscellaneous work in mixed mathematics, including astronomy, gnomonics, perspective, surveying, gunnery and navigation. The unifying element in such a wide range of disciplines is the instrument called the geometric quadrant. According to Lynn Thorndike, Santbech showed appreciation both for specific aspects of Copernicus's work, such as lunar theory, and for the <i>Prutenic Tables</i>, but he ignored cosmological issues. Copernicus is mentioned many times. Virtually nothing is known about Santbech, apart from the fact that he published, in addition to this work, an edition of Regiomontanus's <i>De triangulis</i> (Basel, 1561). The title-page calls Santbech '<i>Noviomagus</i>', and this is generally interpreted as meaning 'of Nijmegen', but Andreas Kleinert reports that Santbech could be from Speyer of Neumagen, a small town near Trier. The volume included a dedicatory letter by Santbech to '<i>Domino Joanni Ludovico a Windeck</i>', dated 1561. The existence of a 1542 Basel edition is disputed by Ernst Zinner. The figures in this edition seem to have been copied from Oronce Fine's <i>Protomathesis</i>. This figure appeared in a section on the determination of the latitude and longitude of a planet or comet. It closely resembles the figure on the previous page, in which Santbech had shown Mars between two fixed stars. Here he uses the same symbols to represent the fixed stars, although a comet now stands in the intermediate position that Mars occupied in the previous figure. This gave a visual affirmation of Santbech's claim that the method for finding longitude and latitude was broadly similar for both planets and comets.</p>