Galileo and 400 years of telescopic astronomy

Peter Grego

"Imagine yourself living 400 years ago, right before the telescope was first used by Galileo to look up into the skies and find unforeseen wonders. You probably believed, with most of the known world, that Earth was -at the center of the magnificent parade of planets and stars above you, and the Sun's purpose in journeying across the sky was to give Earth daylight and warmth." "Suddenly, though, your world is turned upside down. The Church, all powerful in its doctrines and teachings of the times, continues to support theories that don't fit the facts presented by scientists. Scientists in their quest for truth must hide their findings or risk the harsh penalties imposed by the Church." "We have gone from a comforting Earth-centered universe to a tiny floating spec in a gigantic cosmos, barely a comma in a lengthy treatise. And we have gone there in a blink of an eye." "We may have...