''Selenographia, sive Lunae descriptio'' (''Selenography, or A Description of The Moon'') was printed in 1647 and is a milestone work by

Johannes Hevelius Johannes Hevelius Some sources refer to Hevelius as Polish: * * * * * * * Some sources refer to Hevelius as German: * * * * *of the Royal Society * (in German also known as ''Hevel''; pl, Jan Heweliusz; – 28 January 1687) was a councillo ...

. It includes the first detailed map of the moon, created from Hevelius's personal observations. In his treatise, Hevelius reflected on the difference between his own work and that of

Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He w ...

. Hevelius remarked that the quality of Galileo's representations of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width ...

in ''

Sidereus nuncius ''Sidereus Nuncius'' (usually ''Sidereal Messenger'', also ''Starry Messenger'' or ''Sidereal Message'') is a short astronomical treatise (or ''pamphlet'') published in New Latin by Galileo Galilei on March 13, 1610. It was the first published ...

'' (1610) left something to be desired. ''Selenography'' was dedicated to King Ladislaus IV of Poland and along with Riccioli/ Grimaldi's ''Almagestum Novum'' became the standard work on the Moon for over a century. There are many copies that have survived, including those in

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national reposito ...

, in the library of

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of ...

, in the Stillman Drake Collection at the

Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library is a library in the University of Toronto, constituting the largest repository of publicly accessible rare books and manuscripts in Canada. The library is also home to the university archives which, in addition ...

at the University of Toronto, and in the Gunnerus Library at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. Selenographia map of moon

Notes

External links

''Selenographia, sive Lunae descriptio''
1647 books Lunar science Astronomy books {{astronomy-book-stub