Chapter 8: Starlit Challenges: Igniting a Cosmic Revolution
The astronomical society hall felt like a miniature cosmos.
The ceiling lights, shaped like planets, depicted the solar system.
But seeing the Earth at the center made me think it’s a shame these expensive fixtures will need replacing soon.
Members in formal attire bustled across the grand hall toward me.
They all seemed eager to shake my hand.
A middle-aged scholar gripped my hand tightly, barely containing his excitement.
“Congratulations on joining, Mr. Aren Rubellius. I’m Professor Tibel Graham. Finally, someone to stir a revolutionary breeze in this stuffy astronomical community.”
“Mr.?”
“May I call you Professor already? Have any academies scouted you? Of course, a talent like you will be recruited by the top capital academy.”
“Well, I don’t have plans to become a professor yet…”
Tibel’s eyes sparkled.
“Your theory has completely changed how we view the heavens. It’s practically the dawn of a new era.”
His praise sounded like a melody.
I haven’t even announced full heliocentrism yet, and it’s already this much.
A mix of passion and duty stirred within me.
“Aren’s just a young undergraduate. To take his words at face value…”
A cold voice, like a splash of water, came from the corner of the hall.
“Miss Lucia?”
Tibel muttered awkwardly.
Lucia pointed at me provocatively with a sharp finger.
“Becoming a member at twenty? Talk about luck.”
Her sudden informal tone caught me off guard.
Tibel, flustered, spoke up.
“Mr. Aren, Lucia’s probably upset because you took her title as the youngest member. Don’t mind her.”
“I’m two years older than you, and you’re an undergraduate while I’m a doctor. I joined the society first, so I can speak informally, right?”
Even Tibel, standing beside me, used polite speech, yet this young-looking girl was brimming with rudeness.
She glared at me with a defiant attitude.
Her black hair, tied in twintails, spun like the Earth orbiting the sun with every word she spoke.
She had the vibe of a rebellious teenager.
Her eyes gleamed with challenge, hands arrogantly on her hips.
It’s like she’s advertising, “I’m a prickly girl.”
“Then I’ll speak informally too.”
“What? An undergraduate—and from the swordsmanship department, no less?”
Lucia’s red lips curled into a sneer, cat-like.
She didn’t seem to care about her reputation, acting like this in front of other members.
“You didn’t need to mess with established theories. The old ones explained planetary motion well enough with epicycles. You just made things complicated.”
She’s talking about the compromise theory.
But it simplified planetary motion, not complicated it.
“Complicated? On what grounds?”
“Now we have to recalculate everything. You made my work harder. It might be easy for you, though.”
I let out a scoff.
Lucia’s brow furrowed.
“As a scholar, when a new theory emerges, you should recalculate and find joy in it. Complaining about the effort?”
“How dare you lecture me? We have to overturn thousands of years of calculations! There’s no guarantee you’re right!”
“And the old theory piles on dozens of epicycles, while mine explains it concisely with a few orbits. You think a convoluted mess of epicycles is correct?”
“Don’t act like you know everything, undergraduate.”
Lucia bit her lip.
She couldn’t counter logically but seemed too proud to back down.
“Science is about observing nature as it is and finding its fundamental laws. Not forcing phenomena to fit theories, but explaining phenomena with theories.”
My voice stirred the hall.
Heads nodded here and there.
Lucia’s expression grew more distorted.
“Fine, but writing at the end of your paper that the Earth might not be the universe’s center? That’s insane!”
“Why’s that insane?”
I locked eyes with her.
Her dark eyes were challenging me.
“Huh? Need an explanation? If the Earth isn’t the center, we’d all fall and die!”
“Falling to death? Isn’t that closer to delusion?”
“You want to debate this? You need to learn the basics of astronomy. We can stand on a spherical Earth because it, as the universe’s center, pulls everything toward it!”
“What if… my hypothesis is correct?”
“What?”
“Then… you’d kneel or something. Not that it’ll ever happen.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what?”
I asked, thinking of the massive ideological shift a new cosmology would bring, but Lucia was too busy defending her pride.
She seemed blinded by competitive drive rather than scientific curiosity.
I didn’t want to waste more time with an immature scholar like her.
Thankfully, a good excuse to end the conversation arrived—my powerful ally.
Nihir, the society’s president for fifty years.
“Miss Lucia, please don’t cause a scene.”
“Uh… Madam President, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
“Mr. Aren, if Lucia was rude, I apologize on her behalf. She can be immature at times.”
She’s young, so her attitude shifts depending on who she’s facing.
I glanced at Nihir, thinking she was pathetic.
Honestly, her dressed-up appearance for the society was almost inhumanly beautiful.
Her white dress shimmered like the Milky Way.
Her breathtaking beauty outshone even that radiance.
Golden waves of hair cascaded to her shoulders.
Her flawless white skin evoked a work of art.
Is this what a goddess of the stars would look like?
“It’s fine.”
I said, with the reverence of admiring a masterpiece.
Now I understand why she doesn’t wear makeup usually.
Of course, my high regard for Nihir isn’t due to her appearance.
It’s because of her passion for scholarship and her genius talent.
“Miss Lucia, could you step aside? I need to discuss something important with Mr. Aren.”
“Yes, I understand. I’m sorry, Madam President. I’m not usually like this…”
“Then please go.”
As Lucia left, I was alone with Nihir.
“How was it?”
“They’re nowhere near ready to accept heliocentrism. They highly praise your paper, but they’re uneasy about the part at the end.”
“As expected, it’s too soon for heliocentrism.”
I had asked Nihir to find out how astronomers evaluated the statement at the end of my paper: “Jupiter’s moons suggest geocentrism may not be true.”
Scholars typically avoid criticism in front of the author, except for kids like Lucia.
As expected, most members praised the paper to my face but were uncomfortable with that final statement.
Could they not experience what Galileo did, observing Jupiter’s moons and creating a new cosmos in his mind?
Maybe the telescope is the issue.
Current ones only faintly show Jupiter’s moons.
If they’re not ready to accept the truth, I’ll make a better telescope to show them a clear universe.
Maybe then their stubborn eyes will feel something seeing the evidence.
*
As the meeting ended, Nihir strode toward me and clasped my hands.
Her soft, warm touch felt delicate.
“Thanks to you, Mr. Aren, astronomy will soon undergo a revolutionary transformation. It won’t stop at astronomy—it’ll shake everyone’s lives. I’d like to treat you to dinner to express my gratitude.”
I nodded happily, and a bright smile bloomed on Nihir’s face.
We walked side by side to a nearby upscale restaurant.
Candlelight cast a soft glow over the elegant tablecloth.
While waiting for the meal, Nihir slid a small box toward me.
Curious, I opened it, revealing a badge shimmering like golden waves.
“It’s a society badge I crafted by hand. Usually, they’re mass-produced, but this one’s for you.”
On closer inspection, the badge had a small flaw.
In the center of the thumb-sized golden disc, the Earth was depicted with the sun and stars orbiting it.
“Soon, we’ll have to replace all the society badges. This looks like pure gold—must’ve cost a fortune.”
Nihir let out a small laugh at my words.
“True. With the massive shift coming for humanity, it’s worth the cost. Hold on, Mr. Aren, let me pin it on you.”
Nihir carefully attached the badge to my chest, as reverently as a queen bestowing a medal.
Over dinner, we discussed the future of astronomy.
“More people are looking up at the night sky lately. Your theory has reignited their forgotten curiosity. Interest in the cosmos is growing, in the capital and provinces alike.”
That sparked a thought.
“Then telescope sales must’ve spiked too.”
“Exactly. Lens crafters are swamped. Commoners buy wooden-decorated telescopes, while nobles snap up gold-embellished ones.”
“Honestly, the decoration isn’t important. It’s the viewing method and lenses. Current telescopes can’t clearly show Jupiter’s moons, as I mentioned in my paper.”
“Don’t tell me, Mr. Aren, you’re planning to improve telescopes too?”
Nihir’s blue eyes sparkled like starlight.
I’d looked into it before and vaguely remembered.
Galileo could observe Jupiter’s moons because he created a new telescope.
Existing crude refractive telescopes had low magnification and poor image clarity.
Galileo used a concave eyepiece lens, creating what’s called a Galilean telescope.
Modern telescopes evolved through Keplerian to Newtonian reflecting telescopes.
But Keplerian ones are costly, and Newtonian ones are too advanced for this medieval society.
A Newtonian reflecting telescope, the size of an arm, surpassed even large contemporary ones.
Advancing telescopes too quickly could cause unforeseen issues.
Newton was on a different level from other geniuses.
It’s too early for his theories and inventions.
For now, I’ll start by introducing Galilean telescopes.
“Let’s give it a try.”
When they see the universe through new eyes, they’ll be ready to grasp heliocentrism.