Drawing of sunspots, German, 28 October 1642.

One of of three platinotype prints of engravings in, 'Selenographia' by Johannes Hevelius, 1647 showing sunspots observed through a telescope. From page 525 and dated 27 August to 8 October 1644.

This platinotype print shows an engraved image of the Sun's surface with sunspots from 27 August to 8 October 1644. The dazzling Sun was safely viewed by projecting its image through a telescope on to a white surface. Taken from the book, 'Selenographia' by Johannes Hevelius (1611- 1687) published in 1647. As the title suggests the work deals mainly with the German astronomer's observations of the Moon. In his lifetime, Hevelius also produced a catalogue of 1,500 stars, discovered four comets and was the first person to observe a transit of Mercury across the Sun.