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Loading... Galileo's Telescope: A European Story (2012)by Massimo Bucciantini, Michele Camerota (Author), Franco Giudice (Author)
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Between 1608 and 1610 the canopy of the night sky was ripped open by an object created almost by accident: a cylinder with lenses at both ends. Galileo’s Telescope tells how this ingenious device evolved into a precision instrument that would transcend the limits of human vision and transform humanity’s view of its place in the cosmos. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)522.209409031Natural sciences and mathematics Astronomy Telescopes and handbooks Telescopes (See also 535.83 Optics)LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Galileo had three things that lead to the great advancement.
The first was the technical advancement in creating a more powerful telescope. Telescopes were stuck at 8x magnification. Technology lacked the understanding of how lenses worked and the skill to create better lenses. Galileo was able to advance the magnification up to 20x and still have a clear image.
With that technology, Galileo also found things in the night sky that challenged the earth-centric view of the universe based on biblical dogma. One was features in the moon. It had mountains and features like Earth. The other was "planets" near Jupiter that followed Jupiter in the sky.
The third was the scientific discipline to track the "planets" near Jupiter from night to night. By tracking the movement, he concluded that they were orbiting Jupiter. They were moons, just as Earth had a moon.
That lead to the conflict the religious dogma that the Earth was unique and the center of the Universe. Others had observed that Venus had phases, indicating that it was orbiting the sun, not the Earth.
The mechanical ( )