Galileo Galilei – “Father of Fashionable Observational Astronomy”

Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) Galilao has been known as the “father of contemporary observational astronomy.” He created improvements on the telescope that was invented by Hans Lippershey. He made use of the telescope to make observations of sunspots, lunar mountains and valleys, the 4 premier satellites of Jupiter and the phases of Venus.

He also worked on a technique of pinpointing longitudes at sea by using the positions of Jupiter’s satellites. In 1609 Galileo experienced created a telescope of 20 periods magnification with wich he discovered mountains and craters on the moon. He saw that the Milky Way was composed of stars. Later on he built a single that was 30 situations magnification.

Nowadays astronomers have telescopes that are considerably more substantial than something made use of by Galileo. The $120 Million Significant Binocular Telescope (LBT) sits at 10,400 ft on Mount Graham in Arizona. Its components had been fabricated in quite a few countries close to the planet which include The United States, Italy and Germany. It was place into support in October, 2005. This telescope combines gentle from two mirrors to simulate a telescope with a one mirror. When it was first set into operation, astronomers operated the LBT working with only a single main mirror. Later on that 12 months the second mirror became operational.

Galileo, the “father of contemporary observational astronomy,” did not have the resources or the know-how of today’s modern-day LBT, but he did pave the way for modern-day astronomy. There are a lot of telescopes that are comparable to what Galileo utilized. Several are compact adequate to use in a again lawn observatory.