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The telescope in the making, the Galileo first telescopic observations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2010

Alberto Righini
Alberto Righini*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Fisica ed Astronomia dell'Università degli Studi di Firenze, Largo E. Fermi 2, 50125 Firenze, Italy email: alberto.righini@unifi.it
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Abstract

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In the first part of this paper we briefly discuss some historical constraints useful for understanding when Galileo for the first time aimed his telescope to the Moon which most probably was the first astronomical object observed by the Scientist. In the second part we discuss the dates of the observations on which the etchings, published in the Sidereus Nuncius, are based. It results that the five etchings refer to observations performed in December 1609 and January 1610. The measurement of the position, of some peculiar structures of the lunar surface clearly represented by Galileo in the etchings, shows that he was very careful in trying to produce a faithful graphical rendering of what he was observing.

Keywords

History and Philosophy of AstronomyGalileo Galileitelescope
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 6 , Symposium S269: Galileo's Medicean Moons: their impact on 400 years of discovery , January 2010 , pp. 27 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2010

References

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