Galileo’s Telescope

The narrative on Galileo’s telescope is well known and retold many times. It was in the July of 1609 that Galileo heard of news that some Dutch opticians had come up with some kind of optical instrument that can amplify objects and made them nearer. The news was by then very well-known when Galileo got hold of it.

The Venetian government was alert to it and had intention to buy over the instrument from a foreigner until Galileo’s friend Paolo Sarpi advised them to delay purchasing as he was positive that Galileo could outdo it. Galileo was a great experimentalist and then he dedicated himself to improve the instrument and he came up with a more powerful instrument that had greater than before magnifying power. This was done through his understanding of improved magnification through a weak convex lens and a strong concave lens. Up to that time no optician was able to manufacture a much higher magnification than three and he has to grind the lenses himself.

It was then in the autumn of 1609 and as curiosity taken over him, he directed the refined instrument towards the sky. He was then astounded by the power of the latest instrument. From the observation, he figured out that the earth was not the center of the universe. It was opposite to what the bible was about at that times and the church stated publicly that Galileo was wrong. Galileo disputed that the interpreter of the bible might be wrong but he was accused of heresy. Though he was found innocent, he was banned from spreading the Copernican belief system.

Copernican belief system was the doctrine that Earth is not the center of the universe but revolve round the sun. Galileo went on to apply his knowledge of the refined instrument to other areas especially the study on Jupiter and the ocean’s tides. He continued with the Copernican belief system even though he was not allowed to teach. As a result he was kept under house arrest until his demise.

It was from there that he made even more discoveries. The spots on the surface of the sun, rings that surround Saturn and the number of phases that Venus goes through were because of his observations. All these were published in "The Starry Messenger" in 1610. That caused quite a stir back then just to visualize that the earth was round and not flat as thought earlier.

Galileo was the early contributor to the sophisticated, modern telescope that we recognized today. Without his curiosity and observations, our familiarity and knowledge of the modern universe will not be as comprehensive.

Jhye is an author of numerous websites and astronomy and how telescopes work fascinates him.

Galileo’s Telescope
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