Solar eclipse
Date
4 November 1668
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p337a
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 220mm
width (page): 175mm
width (page): 175mm
Subject
Content object
Description
The phases of the solar eclipse observed in Gdansk on 4 November 1668 are mapped onto a pre-printed sheet of concentric circles. This is probably the sheet originally sent by Hevelius, with a table of data, in a letter dated 19 November 1668 to Henry Oldenburg, who read the letter to the Royal Society on 17 December 1668.
Object history
At the meeting of the Royal Society on 17 December 1668, ‘Mr. Oldenburg produced a letter to him from Mr. Hevelius, dated at Dantzick, November 29, 1668, N.S. giving an account of the late eclipse of the sun, November 4, N.S. as also the description of an engine, quae, to use his words, beneficio perpendiculi, loco indicis, regulam cum dioptris perpetuo et satis exacte ad solem stellasve fixas obvertit. This letter was ordered to be entered in the Letter-Book’ (Birch 2:336).
Related fellows
Johannes Hevelius (1611 - 1687, German/Polish) , Astronomer
Henry Oldenburg (1612 - 1677, German) , Scientific correspondent
Henry Oldenburg (1612 - 1677, German) , Scientific correspondent
Associated place