Francesco Fontana

The Astronomer Francesco Fontana (c.1590-1656) claimed in his 1646 book Novae coelestium terrestrium] rerum observationes, et fortasse hactenus non vulgatae to have been usign a telescope in 1608, a year before Galileo. His observations of the moon are recorded in beautiful engravings, he further saw belts on Jupiter and markings on Mars. The book also contains the first descriptions of a Keplerian compound microscope.