Abstract
On 18 February 1679 Paris Observatory astronomer Jean Dominique Cassini presented a new map of the Moon to the Academy of Sciences in Paris, and this then became the standard reference work for French astronomers who carried out selenographical observations. Among these was a contingent of Jesuit missionary-astronomers who sailed from Brest on 3 March 1685, bound for China. <italic>En route</italic> they were forced to spend some months in Siam (present-day Thailand) and used the map when they observed the lunar eclipse of 11 December 1685. In this paper we examine the creation of the 1679 Moon map and its use by the French Jesuit missionary-astronomers in Siam in 1685.
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