In the late sixteenth century, astronomer Tycho Brahe observed that the Moon appeared noticeably smaller when projected inside a camera obscura during a solar eclipse than when observed directly against the night sky. Lacking a comprehensive theory of pinhole optics, Brahe concluded that the Moon's physical distance from Earth must temporarily increase during solar conjunctions. Several years later, Johannes Kepler reexamined these findings by constructing a mathematical model of aperture geometry. Kepler demonstrated that light passing through any finite aperture creates overlapping cones of illumination that artificially enlarge the image of a bright background source while simultaneously shrinking the perceived boundary of an opaque intervening object. Consequently, Kepler established that the discrepancy between direct observations and eclipse projections was entirely a consequence of aperture-induced optical distortion rather than any orbital shift.
Which one of the following statements is most strongly supported by the passage?
- AKepler determined that pinhole apertures of sufficiently small dimensions can completely eliminate optical distortion when projecting images of the Sun.
- BThe gravitational attraction of the Sun exerts a physical force that measurably alters the Moon's orbital distance during solar eclipses.
- Tycho Brahe's hypothesis concerning the Moon's distance was based on measurements that underestimated the Moon's apparent diameter due to the apparatus he used.Answer
- DBrahe's measurements of the Moon against the night sky were more prone to optical distortion than his measurements made during solar eclipses.
- EKepler concluded that the Moon's distance from Earth undergoes a temporary increase during solar conjunctions as a consequence of aperture geometry.