From the IET archives: Pierre Gassendi's institutio astronomica

INSTITUTIO ASTRONOMICA, regarded as one of the first modern astronomy textbooks, was originally published in 1647 and is based on a series of lectures that Pierre Gassendi gave when he was the chair of mathematics at College Royal in Paris. It is divided into three parts, the first discussing the theory of the spheres, the second describing astronomical theory, and the third examining the conflicting ideas of Tycho Brahe and Nicolaus Copernicus. Gassendi also wrote biographies of Brahe and Copernicus as well as other notable philosophers and scientists.