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David Fabricius ( March 9, 1564 - May 7, 1617) was responsible for two major discoveries in the early days of telescopic astronomy. Born in Esens, Frisia, as an adult David Fabricius (a Latinized version of his proper name David Faber) served as pastor for small towns in Frisia (part of modern-day Germany). As was common for churchmen in those days he dabbled in science; in his particular case the science was astronomy.

Fabricius made his first mark on history by discovering the first known periodic variable star (as opposed to cataclysmic variables, such as novas and supernovas), Mira, in August of 1596. At first he believed it to be "just" another nova, as the whole concept of a recurring variable did not exist at the time. When he saw Mira brighten again in 1609, however, it became clear that a new kind of object had been discovered in the sky.

Two years later, his son Johannes Fabricius ( 1587- 1615) returned from university in the NetherlandsDutch redirects here. For other uses, see Dutch (disambiguation). The Netherlands ( Dutch: Nederland is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a constitutional monarchy. It is located in northwestern Europe and borders the North Sea, Belgium with telescopes that they turned on the SunThe Sun (also called Sol is the star in our solar system. Planet Earth orbits the Sun. Other bodies that orbit the Sun include other planets, asteroids, meteoroids, comets and dust. Not all objects passing through the solar system have been orbitally capt. Despite the difficulties of observing the sun directly, they noted the existence of sunspotA sunspot is a region on the Sun's surface ( photosphere) that is marked by a lower temperature than its surroundings, and intense magnetic activity. Although they are blindingly bright, at temperatures of roughly 5000 K, the contrast with the surroundings, the first confirmed instance of their observation (though unclear statements in East Asian annals suggest that Chinese astronomers may have discovered them with the naked eye previously, and Fabricius may have noticed them himself without a telescope a few years before). The pair soon invented camera obscuraThe camera obscura ( Lat. dark chamber was a novelty optical invention, and one of the ancestral threads leading to the invention of photography; photographic devices today are still known as " cameras". Simply do it yourself by building a box and punchin telescopy so as to save their eyes and get a better view of the solar disk, and observed that the spots moved. They would appear on the eastern edge of the disk, steadily move to the western edge, disappear, then reappear at the east again after the passage of the same amount of time that it had taken for it to cross the disk in the first place.

This suggested that the Sun rotated on its axis, which had been postulated before but never backed up with evidence. Johannes published Maculis in Sole Observatis, et Apparente earum cum Sole Conversione Narratio ("Narration on Spots Observed on the Sun and their Apparent Rotation with the Sun") in JuneJune is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 30 days. June is named for the Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter. Events in June The solstice occurs around the 21st of this month, although it may occur on either the 20 or 22. It is t of 1611Events November 1 At Whitehall Palace in London, William Shakespeare's romantic comedy The Tempest is presented for the first time. mo Gustavus Adolphus becomes king of Sweden Denmark attacks Sweden King James Version of the Bible first published in Engla. Unfortunately, the book remained obscure and was eclipsed (so to speak) by the independent discoveries of and publications about sunspots by Christoph ScheinerChristoph Scheiner ( July 25 1573 or 1575 June 18 1650) was a German astronomer and Jesuit. He was one of the first to observe sunspots (in 1611), although he took these to be satellites of the Sun. His book Rosa Ursina was published in 1630; by this time in JanuaryJanuary is the first month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, and has 31 days. It is named for Janus, the Roman god of doors and gateways. The original Roman calendar consisted of 10 months (304 days). The Romans originally considered winter a monthle 1612 and Galileo Galilei in March 1612.

Besides these two discoveries, little else is known about David Fabricius except his unusual manner of death: after denouncing a local goose thief from the pulpit, the accused man struck him in the head with a shovel and killed him. Copies of a map he made of Frisia in 1589 are also still extant. He is also name-checked in Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon as someone who claimed to have seen lunar inhabitants through his telescope, though that particular fact is merely part of Verne's fiction.

A large (90 kilometer) crater on the Moon's southern hemisphere is named after David Fabricius.