* Astronomy

In a display near the entrance to the Science Museum's new exhibition, a group of pen-and-ink sketches of the moon and sun have been hung among an array of old telescopes, models of satellites and other astronomical ephemera. As art, the drawings have no obvious merit, though their executor, Thomas Harriot, was clearly a skilful cartographer. His works have clean, clear lines and exude professionalism.
But take a closer look at the drawing of the moon, on the far left, and note the tiny scrawl that shows its date of completion: 26 July 1609. Thus the drawing of the lunar disc marks its 400th birthday today - a remarkable anniversary, for Harriot's simple sketch turns out to be the oldest astronomical record ever created using a telescope.

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Celebrating Thomas Harriot, the world's first telescopic astronomer
400 years ago English polymath Thomas Harriot became the first person to look at a celestial object through a telescope. Harriot pointed his simple Dutch trunke telescope at the Moon on 26th July 1609, making simple drawings of our nearest astronomical neighbour from his house in Syon Park in what is now West London.

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Briton drew pictures of the moon before Galileo
Drawings of the moon completed by British cartographer Thomas Harriot and pre-dating Galileo are to go on public display.

The 17th century "moon maps" by Harriot appear to reveal that the Englishman preceded the famous Italian scientist in viewing the moon through a telescope.

One of Harriot's drawings is dated July 26 1609, six months prior to Galileo's well documented achievement in December 1609.
The lunar drawings by Harriot will form part of an exhibition at West Sussex Record Office in Chichester in July to mark the International Year of Astronomy.

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