It was on this page that Galileo first noted an observation
of the moons of Jupiter.
This observation upset the notion that all celestial bodies
must revolve around the Earth.
Galileo published a full description in Sidereus Nuncius in
March 1610
Faith in science
— Born in Pisa in 1564, Galileo Galilei built his first telescope in 1609 after a Dutch optician invented a device that made distant objects seem near at hand (at first called the spyglass)
— Galileo used his telescopes to observe the Moon, which he found to be “uneven, rough, full of cavities and prominences”, and then in 1610 Jupiter and its satellites
— His subsequent Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, in which he asserted categorically that the Earth revolved round the Sun, was held to be offensive to Pope Urban VIII and he was ordered to stand trial for heresy in 1633
— His views were found to be “absurd, philosophically false, and formally heretical because expressly contrary to Holy Scriptures”
— He recanted to save his life, and lived under house arrest until his death in 1642