The telescope, maybe something we think as a cool little gadget we could buy from toys-r-us, has in fact shaped the astronomy industry giving scientists and astronomers the tools needed to discover planets, stars, and much more. This invention goes back to the 1500’s, to an Astronomer named Galileo Galilei. “Considered the father of modern science, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) made major contributions to the fields of physics, astronomy, cosmology, mathematics and philosophy”, as stated in the article “Galileo Galilei” by the History.com staff. In 1609, Galileo built his first telescope in 1609, discovering major keys to astronomy such as four of Jupiter’s moons and the rings of Saturn. After multiple fruitless efforts, he finally got it right. Galileo was a very gregarious man when it came to his fellows scientists. “Galileo’s observations contradicted the Aristotelian view of the universe, then widely accepted by both scientists and theologians”, as also stated by the History.com staff. Many scientists today base their researches off his discoveries. “The spacecraft launched by NASA in October 18, 1989 was named in Galileo’s honor as the spacecraft’s mission was around Jupiter, a planet Galileo carefully studied with his telescope”, said by scientists Jody Bowie. Galileo finally revolutionized the scientific method, and how every scientist today approaches situations using those steps of the scientific method.
Thanks to Galileo, scientists today have been able to discover 7 new earth like planets 40 light years away. Based on the article by Nsikan Akpan, an astrophysicist by the name of Michael Gillon, describes these planets as, “habitable”. This challenges the theories of many minds thinking that earth is the only planet in the universe capable of human life. It also gives hope to those who in fact believe with a universe this big, there has to be more life out there somewhere. Scientists aggregated to say , “We will be able to study the climates and chemical composition of the atmospheres, within a few years, we’ll know a lot more about these planets, and with hope, if there is life there maybe within a decade.” The fact that it will only take a few years to fully study 7 new planets 40 light years today is remarkable. Compared to years ago, who would think that science was this powerful today, and who knows where it will be in the next few years. In all, scientists are expecting these planets to have a similar pastoral land to earth’s, and hopefully we will be able to peregrinate there.
Ever since I was younger astronomy has always interested me and in school, other than recess, science was my favorite subject. I remember learning about Galileo in school, and how he improved science today. I think that it is amazing how far we can see planets and how we keep discovering new ones, the telescope while being an idyllic invention changed the world. Movies like “Alien” and “Armageddon” I think are the movies that really got me interested, and wondering if there is more life really out there somewhere.
CITES:
Inventors and Scientists: Galileo Galilei
Scientists find 7 Earth-like planets orbiting nearby ultracool star