First observation of a transit of Mercury
Primera observación de un tránsito de Mercurio
- Date
- 7 de noviembre de 1631 · confidence high
- Place
- Paris, France
- Credited to
- Pierre Gassendi
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Following the prediction Kepler had made in his Rudolphine Tables, Gassendi observed in Paris the first-ever recorded transit of Mercury, watching the planet cross as a tiny dot against the solar disk; he was surprised by how small it appeared compared to earlier estimates. It was the first observational confirmation of a mathematically predicted planetary transit.
What it led to
- Calculation of the solar system's scale via transits
- Later observation of transits of Venus
Built on
- Kepler's Rudolphine Tables