Galileo’s drawings are considered the first realistic depiction of the moon
These drawings date back to 1609 and are the work of the one and only Galileo Galilei, one of the biggest proponents of Copernicus’s theory of heliocentrism, which theorized that Earth revolved around the sun, not the other way around. The astronomer was the first person to observe the moon through a telescope of his own making.
He produced these watercolors that depict the different phases of the heavenly body. Galileo’s observations disproved the Aristotelian belief that the moon was a perfect sphere since its surface showed changes in lighting caused by valleys and mountains. The sketches are located in Florence’s Nazionale Centrale Library.