In the December 2008 issue of the J. Br. Astron. Assoc., historian Allan Chapman << url: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Chapman_(historian) >> presents a telescopic drawing of the Moon dated July 26, 1609 by early English astronomer Thomas Harriot. The drawing is no _Sidereus Nuncius_, but is noteworthy in that it predates Galileo's earliest reported use of a telescope to view astronomical objects. Chapman places Galileo's first astronomical use of a telescope in late November or December 1609. IMHO, Harriot's lunar drawing is very crude and does nothing to displace the preeminance of Galileo's more detailed drawings and analysis in _Sidereus Nuncius_. Galileo also was the first to publish. Harriot's drawings were unpublished. The earlier Harriot observation is also mentioned in the online Galileo Project Timeline of Galileo's life. << url: http://galileo.rice.edu/chron/galileo.html >> Harriot's July 26, 1609 drawing can also be viewed at the Galileo Project website. << url: http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/harriot_moon.html >> Chapman also reviews the ambiguous evidence supporting the existance of the English Diggs reflector telescope. Chapman conludes the Diggs scope probably did not exist. Clear Skies - Kurt Chapman, A. Dec. 2008. Thomas Harriot: the first telescopic astronomer. J. Br. Astron. Assoc. 118(6):315-325. P.S. - The J. Br. Astron. Assoc. article is a version of lecture given by Chapman in Dec. 2007. This may be old news and not new news to some. This (Dec. 2008) was the first time I ran across this reference.