Christoph Scheiner

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Christoph 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. He was assisted by Johann Baptist Cysat in his observations of this phenomenon. His book Rosa Ursina was published in 1630; by this time, he agreed with Galileo that sunspots were on the Sun's surface or in its atmosphere.

Because the Maunder Minimum subsequently drastically reduced sunspot activity for many decades, his book remained the standard reference work on sunspots for a long time.

He remained opposed to the heliocentric theory until his death.

He felt enmity towards Galileo over a dispute about which of them had discovered sunspots first, and this may have been an important factor in Galileo's troubles with the Catholic church over Galileo's support of the heliocentric theory.

Scheiner Crater, a lunar impact crater, is named after him.