Marcgrave's astronomical observatory at Recife
Observatorio astronómico de Marcgrave en Recife
- Date
- 1639-1643 · confidence medium
- Place
- Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
- Credited to
- Georg Marcgrave (Dutch Brazil)
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What it is
The first astronomical observatory in South America, set up in Mauritsstad by the German astronomer and naturalist Georg Marcgrave. There he observed the 1640 solar eclipse and recorded southern-sky star positions with measuring instruments.
The installation is dated to about 1639 (Marcgrave arrived in 1638); his notes on the eclipse of 13 November 1640 and his maps survive.
What it led to
- The first systematic astronomical observations of the southern sky from the Americas
- Southern-sky data used by 17th-century European astronomers
- A later Brazilian astronomical tradition