Neith, the Moon of Venus
For a century, respected astronomers reported seeing a small moon beside Venus. It was even given a name. It isn't there.
What was reported
In 1672, the astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini, at the Paris Observatory, reported seeing a small object near Venus, showing the same crescent shape as the planet, like a little moon. He saw it again in 1686. Over the next century, several other astronomers reported it too, and in 1761 and 1764 there was a flurry of sightings.
In 1884, a Belgian astronomer named it Neith, after an Egyptian goddess, though by then most experts doubted it.
Explanations offered
Venus has no moon. Later astronomers showed that many of the sightings were stars that happened to be near Venus at the time, and others were 'ghost' images caused by reflections inside the telescopes. Spacecraft have since confirmed there's nothing there.
- When
- Reported from 1672 to the 1760s
- Where
- Paris Observatory, Paris, France
- Witnesses
- Giovanni Cassini and other astronomers
- Status
- Never existed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
More from Paris