Galileo sees a star 'appear' while observing Jupiter

So the next night, 400 years ago tonight, Galileo looks at Jupiter one hour after sunset. He can see two bright stars parellel to the ecliptic, one east of Jupiter and one to the west. A couple of hours later he spies a third object, quite dim, 'almost touching Jupiter'. By now he realises that he is making a discovery of momentous importance

He gets a new surprise the next day.

Stay tuned by following this blog. I will be covering Galileo's observations through to early March 1610. All blogs will be concise. Comments on the blog aare most welcome


Simon Mitton
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