Astronomy
- March 4 - French astronomer Charles Messier first records the Orion Nebula (Messier 42).
- June 3 - Transit of Venus is observed from many places in order to obtain data for measuring the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Those taking part include
- Jean-Baptiste Chappe d'Auteroche at San José del Cabo, Baja California
- James Cook and Charles Green on Tahiti
- Jeremiah Dixon and William Bayly in northern Norway, Dixon at Hammerfest and Bayly at North Cape
- Maximilian Hell and János Sajnovics in Vardø, Norway
- Guillaume Le Gentil in Pondicherry, India: Le Gentil had hoped to go to Manila in the Philippines but was turned away by the local Spanish colonial governor. The weather in Pondicherry is cloudy that day. Le Gentil had also missed the 1761 transit through bad luck.
- Alexandre Guy Pingré in Haiti
- William Wales and Joseph Dymond at Prince of Wales Fort on Hudson Bay
- Anders Johan Lexell and Christian Mayer in Saint Petersburg; with other members of Russian Academy of Sciences at eight other locations in the Russian Empire
- Members of the American Philosophical Society at three locations
The transit is followed five hours later by a total solar eclipse visible from Britain.
- November 9 - Transit of Mercury. James Cook observes this from Mercury Bay in New Zealand.
Read more about this topic: 1769 In Science
Famous quotes containing the word astronomy:
“It is noticed, that the consideration of the great periods and spaces of astronomy induces a dignity of mind, and an indifference to death.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)