 The earthly realm we have been describing is just one small and relatively insignificant part of what there is. Much more exalted, and a much worthier subject of intellectual contemplation, is the eternal heavenly domain. Here Ibn Rushd broadly follows standard premodern cosmology in describing the eight celestial spheres of the moon, the sun, the five planets, and the fixed stars. These spheres are solid, transparent bodies, spinning around the earth, luminous only at those points where the sphere thickens (SubstOrb 2.92). Celestial bodies are composites of matter and form, but of an utterly different kind. Their matter is actually existent, incorruptible and indivisible, with a determinate size and shape (SubstOrb 2.82; LongMeta XII.10 {1447}). Celestial matter is in potentiality only with regard to motion, and that motion, although generally circular, is extremely complex, with as many as 55 distinct motions identifiable among the eight spheres (LongMeta XII.48 {1679}). Each of these distinct motions requires a distinct actualizing form (EpiMeta 4.147 {135}; LongMeta XII.43 {1645}), but these are not material forms, inhering in the celestial matter (since that matter is already actualized). Instead, these celestial forms are separate and, like all forms not inhering in matter, they are therefore intellectual: “if there are these forms that have existence inasmuch as they are not in matter, then these are necessarily separate intellects, since there is no third kind of existence for forms qua forms” (EpiMeta 4.150 {139}; Incoherence I.6 {338}). In addition to intellects, these forms have desires, and indeed are aptly referred to as souls (LongMeta XII.36 {1593}; SubstOrb 1.71, 2.81). It is this desire, rather than any sort of physical contact, that moves the spheres, with the beauty of its celestial intelligence serving as a final cause, and its desire efficiently moving the sphere. Far from being cold bodies in empty space, these spheres are “alive, full of pleasure, and delighted in themselves” (EpiMeta 4.162 {152}). Adding to their delight is their partial understanding of and desire for the first and unmoved mover, which moves all of the spheres through their desire for this highest cause (LongMeta XII.44 {1649–50}; EpiMeta 4.154 {142}). (For this cosmology in its historical context, see Wolfson 1962 and Endress 1995.)