<p>This question <a href="https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/57089/why-is-the-lunar-relief-not-visible-in-photographs-of-solar-eclipses">Why is the lunar relief not visible in photographs of solar eclipses?</a></p>
<p>Reminds me of something that I remember that Johannes Kepler wrote.  When telescopes discovered mountains and craters on the moon, Kepler wrote something about astronomers knowing about lunar mountains and valleys even earlier, before telescopes.</p>
<p>As I remember, Kepler wrote of using a pinhole to project an image of a solar eclipse on a surface, an image which showed that the Moon was not totally spherical but had high points and low points on its surface.</p>
<p>Is my memory correct?  Did Kepler write something like that?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-07T07:11:31.850Z
Maybe. However, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baily%27s_beads says Halley made the first recorded observations. Surely Baily's beads had been noticed earlier, and perhaps some earlier observer had correctly deduced their cause.
PM 2Ring
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-07T20:01:02.660Z
I don't know that the image *showed* high and low points as much as that people can look at the surface features from above and correctly determine what they're seeing.
Darth Pseudonym
<the-moon><history><solar-eclipse><johannes-kepler>
Kepler's description of lunar mountains before telescope
M. A. Golding
# Kepler's description of lunar mountains before telescope

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-03-07)

This question [Why is the lunar relief not visible in photographs of solar eclipses?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/57089/why-is-the-lunar-relief-not-visible-in-photographs-of-solar-eclipses)

Reminds me of something that I remember that Johannes Kepler wrote. When telescopes discovered mountains and craters on the moon, Kepler wrote something about astronomers knowing about lunar mountains and valleys even earlier, before telescopes.

As I remember, Kepler wrote of using a pinhole to project an image of a solar eclipse on a surface, an image which showed that the Moon was not totally spherical but had high points and low points on its surface.

Is my memory correct? Did Kepler write something like that?

**Tags:** the-moon, history, solar-eclipse, johannes-kepler

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Maybe. However, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baily%27s_beads says Halley made the first recorded observations. Surely Baily's beads had been noticed earlier, and perhaps some earlier observer had correctly deduced their cause.  
> **username_2**: I don't know that the image *showed* high and low points as much as that people can look at the surface features from above and correctly determine what they're seeing.  

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## 0 answers

