ASTR 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Galilean Moons, Hans Lippershey, Orbital Period

• School: University of Maryland
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: ASTR 100
• Professor: Sylvain Veilleux

Document Summary

Galileo galilei was an italian mathematician and astronomer who was the first to use a telescope to observe astronomical bodies. Improving on a vague design by hans lippershey, Galileo developed his own telescopes that could magnify objects up to 30 times. Galileo discovered more evidence for the copernican system when he observed that venus exhibited the full range of phases similar to that of the moon. Venus revolved around the sun since the illuminated hemisphere would face earth when it was on the opposite side of the sun and face away from earth when the hemisphere was on the. But in the ptolemaic model, none of the planet"s orbits could intersect the. The traditional view was that venus was placed on the near side of the sun where it would only be observed to have crescent and new phrases. But this was shown to be incorrect when galileo viewed venus through his telescope.