'Little things for looking through'

Four hundred years ago, in November 1609, a man living in Padua, Italy, turned what was then thought of as a toy to the sky and proceeded to overturn 2,000 years of scientific thought.

The man was Galileo Galilei, and while he didn't invent the telescope, he was one of the first, if not the first to turn it to the sky and began to make astonishing discoveries.

The moon had mountains, Venus and Mercury had phases just like Earth's moon, and Jupiter had four small dots of light that appeared to orbit it. Most curious of all was Saturn. For all he could tell from his observations, it had what he called "ears." The true nature of Saturn's rings was not discovered for many years.

His perspicillum, as he called it, consisted of two pieces of ground glass inserted into a lead tube. The word in Latin means, "little things for looking through" and most likely referred to the kind of glass that was normally used for eye glasses. The word telescopium, Greek for far-seeing, didn't come into use until later.

Galileo's telescopes were not much better than those purchased in dime-stores today. Magnification was limited to about 30-power at most and resolution through the glass was not that good, yet what he did see became revolutionary.

I have said all that to say this, because this year is the 400th anniversary of those discoveries, the year 2009 has been declared by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as the International Year of Astronomy.

As such, throughout the year there will be festivities and events all around the world celebrating astronomy and astronomical history. Museums, planetaria, and astronomy clubs will be playing host to various activities. And, if possible, I will see what I can do in this area to bring some hands-on (or should I say eyes-on) astronomy to the various communities where this column is published.

You can check online for a calendar of event schedules and astronomical history at www.astronomy2009.org or look up information about a documentary being made about Galileo and the telescope at www.400years.org.

SKY WATCH:

Full moon, Jan. 11, moon near the Beehive star cluster, Sunday, Jan. 11. I hope you were keeping track of Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and the moon last week. They were all seen playing tag in the southwestern sky just after sunset. Jupiter is about to leave the evening sky and will be absent until next summer when it returns as a morning object.

Saturn is rising earlier with each passing day and by mid-February will be visible in the early evening. If you are going to look at Saturn with a telescope, don't be too disappointed, because the rings that we are so used to seeing in all their glory will not be there. For the past several months the ring plane has been closing as Saturn's rings grow close to being nearly edge-on from our perspective. We won't see it when the rings are exactly edge-on because the planet will be located beyond the sun and lost in its glare.

Next time:

More astronomical blathering.