3-057-264 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Cosmos, 1750. Depiction of the various star constellations in the sky by the instrument-maker and amateur astronomer, Thomas Wright who attempted to rationalise the vastness of the cosmos. He theorised that the cosmos may well be infinite, and that what we can see of the sky from the earth, may only be a small part of what is actually there. Wright suggested that the concentration of stars in the Milky Way could well be replicated throughout the universe. His theories were possible because of the Copernican revolution and the invention of the telescope, both of which enabled scientists to consider possibilities that had never been thought of before. Wright's ideas can be seen in some ways as prophetic.