Galileo's Telescope

The news that a Dutchman called Hans Lipperhey had created a device which made distant objects appear much closer, so they could be clearly seen, reached Galileo in 1609. With the backing of the Doge of Venice, he produced his own, refining his design and magnification and in January 1610 he started observing and recording the heavens with a 10 power telescope, making astonishing and heretical discoveries with it, which he published in his book The Starry Messenger, the same year.

Jupiter, he discovered, had 3 moons all of which moved in different directions and even disappeared (behind Jupiter), meaning they were orbiting the planet and not the Earth. Surely, if Earth as was widely believed was the centre of the universe everything would revolve around it? Copernicus had first suggested the Earth wasn’t the center of the universe in 1530 and his ideas had actually been accepted by the then Pope Clement VII. However, his views were not widely accepted and many, particularly the Church, denounced them.

Galileo’s findings with his new powerful telescope were considered equally as heretic. The Church claimed his findings were against the teachings of the Bible, but he argued that the Bible could be interpreted differently. Galileo was found innocent, but told not to teach Copernican beliefs.

He however continued to observe the stars and worked on a paper about the moon’s effect on the ocean's tides, discovered the rings of Saturn and sun spots. He was finally placed under house arrest for his teachings, but continued to devote his life to science until his death in 1642. It was Galileo’s refined telescope which provided the detailed pictures of the moon and the planets that began to convince people of the modern shape of the solar system. Providing the evidence needed to back up Copernicus’s ideas.

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