Science Fun

It is fitting that in 2009, the International Year of Astronomy, that we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the telescope. On August 25, 1609, Galileo introduced the telescope and began stargazing in Padua, Italy. “Galileo Galilei was the first modern scientist, and when he looked at the sky in 1609, his telescope changed everything – the way we view the universe, and our place in it and ourselves” – Ed Krupp, Director of the Griffith Observatory.

In 1609 following the introduction of the telescope, Galileo worked and made some very important astronomical discoveries. He saw the Moon, the Milky Way, and four of the 13 satellites of Jupiter, with one of them being Ganimede. He confirmed the Sun-centered theory of Copernicus and on March 12, 1610, he published the findings of his studies in the publication “Sidereus Nuncius”.

Gailileo’s first telescope was only eight- powered, which was smaller than the hobby scopes you might buy in the department stores. This first scope lead Galileo on an extraordinary voyage of the heavens as he discovered the phases of Venus, enjoyed the highlands and ‘seas’ of the moon, and inspired us all to look upward and to discover and enjoy the universe around us.

Here are a few ‘did you knows’ to enjoy about Gailileo. He became blind by the age of 74 and probably never looked at the sun directly. He observed Neptune in 1612, but thought it was a distant star. Galileo also observed Saturn’s rings, but to him, they appeared as two separate bodies attached to the planet. Galileo tried to measure the speed of light by placing observers with lanterns about a quarter mile apart, he was unsuccessful with this event, however, he did make the first working thermometer, although it was not very accurate.

Thanks to Bob over at Blackholes and astrostuff for introducing me to the Galileoscope, which prompted me to do some fun research for this post and to order up one of these do-it-yourself telescope kits. For a very reasonable price of $20 plus shipping, you can have a fun scope to enjoy the heavens. You will learn about the ‘innards’ of a telescope as well as the fundamentals of optics and magnification as you assemble your scope.

I work at Northeast Delta Dental, and in early October, we celebrate National Customer Service Week. This year our theme is ‘space’, and we are teaming up with our neighbor, the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center for a fun filled week on learning good Customer Service skills and having fun. As we tie in the theme of space and astronomy, I hope to introduce the Galileo scope to both organizations, maybe as prizes for some of the Customer Service Week games and contests, but also for the Discovery Center to display and offer through their science store.

Learn more about Galileo and 400 years of the telescope by ordering the PBS video below. Material for this article from solar-center.stanford.edu/galileo/ and from Wikipedia.

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