Solar pretty

[Plane]

http://petapixel.com/2015/02/14/nasa-time-lapse-shows-5-years-suns-life-3-glorious-minutes/

[Xavier_Onassis]

That is impressive. There is a lot going on on the surface of the Sun. If that is one shot per second, then the movement is slower than in real time.  Galileo reported that he looked through his telescope and saw Jupiter's Great Red Spot. This upset the theologians, because Scholastic philosophy (mostly from St Thomas Aquinas, based on the logic of Aristotle) had determined that God, being perfect, created everything prefect, and only on Earth were there any imperfections, because of Adam & Eve snacking on forbidden fruit on the recommendation of a talking reptile. Everything in the Heavens had to be perfect, and it Galileo saw a spot on Jupiter, it had to be because Satan was deluding him. The idea was that the circle, having only one side, was the perfect 2 dimensional figure, and the sphere was the perfect three dimensional shape, And of course, since heavenly bodies were perfect, there could be no change in the surface of them. The idea that the Earth was a planet like Mercury, Mars and Jupiter was not a common one.  The Sun, Moon and stars were more like God's ornaments.

These photos would have blown Galileo's mind, I imagine.

[Plane]

   People like Galileo are alive now and are enjoying the better equipment.

    Defining "perfection" as featurelessness or extreme simplicity seems strange to us , but I don't really know that thinking very well.

     

[Xavier_Onassis]

The word Perfectus in Latin means complete. In Grammar, the perfect tense indicates completed action. A perfecto cigar is completed (pointy, not flat) on one end.
I think that that had something to do with it.  If the Moon or the Sun were to cast perfect light, they would cast the maximum light from each point. The purpose of the Sun and Moon, according to the thinking of these theologians, was to cast perfect light on Earth. Perfect because everything in the Heavens was unaffected by Original Sin and therefore exactly perfect as a Perfect Creator made it.

[Plane]

So perfect used to mean "complete" more than it does now?

I think of it as meaning "fitting to purpose" or "flawless".

Thinking that Jupiter would not be perfect with markings seems strange, but I have considerable advantage.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I was referring to the Latin word. Italian, the language of Galileo is as close to Latin as one can get.
The word has a different nuance in English. If a perfect being, like God, creates something, it must logically (according to the Scholastic philosophers) be perfect upon completion.

I, for one, am quite content with Jupiter's Giant Red Spot. I am content with the Earth not being completely spherical. It seems to me that the degree of perfection of celestial bodies is that they are as imperfect as the various laws of gravity and other forces allow them to be. Things change until they reach some degree of status, and change only within the limits that natural forces permit.  If the Moon were not in an orbit consistent with  the laws of gravity and such, it would go screaming off into space.