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L'astronome Les choses de la terre le passionnent. Mais sa passion dominante, celle qui va sans doute lui donner le plus de joies, c'est l'astronomie. En 1610, informé des découvertes de Galilée qui "observe" le ciel, il charge son frère, alors à Paris, de lui faire fabriquer des verres de télescope. Et il installe au haut de son logis, un véritable observatoire, d'où il va participer à la grande découverte du ciel, qui l'émerveille. Il convie de nombreux amis à prendre part à sa recherche. Parmi eux, l'un des plus assidus à Belgentier est Gassendi qui écrira plus tard la "Vie de Nicolas-Claude Peiresc, Conseiller au Parlement de Provence". Peiresc étudie les mouvements des satellites de Jupiter, en détermine la vitesse, en établit des tables. Il découvre la Grande Nébuleuse d'Orion, donnant du même coup le mot "nébuleuse" à la science. Le 28 août 1634, une éclipse est prévue. Peiresc la fait observer de Digne, de Rome, du Caire, d'Alep en Syrie. De ces observations conjointes, Peiresc pourra déduire que les différences de longitudes généralement admises alors sont fausses : les cartes et globes terrestres portent des erreurs de plus de 200 lieues de la Provence à Alep. La Méditerranée orientale est plus courte de 1000 Km que pensé. En 1636, Peiresc, à l'étude des longitudes, établit la première carte connue de la lune. Hommage ultérieur : un cirque lunaire portera son nom. Riche d'instruments et d'ouvrages de référence, il observe sans cesse, déduit, note et transmet souvent à Gassendi le résultat de ses démarches, qui l'approuve et l'encourage. |
Astronomer The things of the earth fascinated him. But his overriding passion, which undoubtedly gave him the greatest joy, was astronomy. In 1610, when told of the discoveries of Galileo, who was 'observing' the heavens, he instructed his brother, then in Paris, to arrange to have telescope lenses made for him. And at the top of his house he installed a fully-equipped observatory, from which he was to play a part in the great discovery of the heavens, which filled him with wonder. He invited numerous friends to join him in his research. Amongst them was Gassendi, one of the most frequent visitors to Belgentier, who was later to write the "Vie de Nicolas-Claude Peiresc, Conseiller au Parlement de Provence". Peiresc studied the movements of Jupiter's satellites, determined their speeds and drew up tables of this data. He discovered the Great Orion Nebula, at the same time giving to science the term 'nebula'. On 28 August 1634, an eclipse was predicted. Peiresc arranged for it to be observed from Digne, Rome, Cairo and Aleppo in Syria. From these combined observations, Peiresc was to be able to conclude that the then widely accepted intervals in longitude were incorrect; maps and globes contained errors of over 200 leagues from Provence to Aleppo. The eastern Mediterranean was shorter by 1,000 km than had been thought. In 1636, Peiresc, when studying longitudes, drew the first known map of the moon. In subsequent tribute, one of the craters of the moon was to be named after him. Well-equipped with instruments and reference-books, he observed constantly, drew conclusions, made notes and often passed on his findings to Gassendi, who gave him approval and encouragement. |
