400 years ago today, Galileo Galilei turned the world of astronomy on its head by turning his newly developed telescope skyward, bringing such heavenly bodies as the moon, Venus and Jupiter into sharper focus than ever before – and a myriad of heavenly bodies into view for the very first time.
Although Galileo’s contributions to science are now recognized as some of the most important in human history, they didn’t go over very well at the time with the Catholic Church. By proving that the surface of the moon wasn’t completely smooth and that neither the sun nor the planet Venus could possibly revolve around the earth, he branded himself a heretic in the eyes of the Church, and he spent the rest of his life under house arrest because of it.
Today we celebrate the accomplishments of Galileo and his many contributions to the scientific world, and how it all started with a simple little telescope that brought extraterrestrial worlds closer to us than they had ever been before. The modern telescopes in use today make Galileo’s seem like a mere toy, but 400 years ago it was a magnificent advancement in scientific technology that would change the way we humans look at our universe forever.