- May 11, 2022
- 1 min
In this month: November
7th November 1631 A transit of Mercury occurs. Many astronomers set up to capture Mercury's movement in front of the Sun. However only one, a catholic priest named Pierre Gassendi, published his observations and revealed for the first time the size of a planet compared to the Sun. Thus, Pierre Gassendi became the first known person to observe a transit of Mercury. He observed the transit in a darkened room by projecting the image of the Sun through his telescope. Initi