First telescope sketch
JUL 26, 2016
On this date in 1609, the first known sketches of an object viewed through a telescope—in this case, the Moon—were made by English astronomer Thomas Harriot.
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.031272
On this date in 1609, English astronomer and mathematician Thomas Harriot made a special sketch of the Moon—the first known drawing of an object viewed through a telescope. Though Galileo’s drawings are more famous and were much more detailed, his first ones were made about four months after Harriot’s. The English stargazer viewed the Moon through a roughly 6x-magnification telescope that he called a Dutch truncke, since it had been recently patented in Holland. Harriot’s drawing shows the line between lit and unlit portions of the Moon known as the terminator. (Image credit: Lord Egremont)
Date in History: 26 July 1609
© 2016. American Institute of Physics