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Gate-away.com Astronauts to return Galileo's telescope Replica brought on space mission to fete 400 years of discovery
FLORENCE - A replica of Galileo Galilei's telescope is headed back to Florence next month after travelling into orbit for a commemorative mission uniting the past and present of space exploration.
The telescope was re...created during a painstaking two-year project by
researchers from the Museum of the History of Science in Florence to
mark the 400th anniversary of Galileo's landmark discoveries.

In May, it accompanied astronauts aboard the NASA space shuttle
Atlantis on a mission to upgrade its ultramodern descendent, the Hubble
Space Observatory.

Mission Commander Scott Altman said bringing the two instruments
together connected the cutting edge of space exploration with its bold
beginnings in the hands of a Tuscan astronomer.

''Not since Galileo turned his telescope toward the sky in 1610 has any
event so changed our understanding of the universe as the success of
the Hubble Space Telescope,'' Altman said.

While in space, Altman and Italian-American mission specialist Michael
Massiminio used the telescope to peer out the shuttle's window at
Jupiter, the moon and other celestial bodies observed in Galileo's
treatise Sidereus Nuncius (Starry Messenger).

The telescope returned to Earth at the end of May after two weeks in
orbit and is due back in Florence on December 18 for a special
homecoming ceremony.

Both Altman and Massiminio will be at the city's town hall to return
the telescope, which rejoins exhibits at the Museum of the History of
Science.

Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli will also be present together with
European Space Agency spokesperson Simonetta Di Pippo to discuss the
importance of continuing space flight programs. Galileo (1564-1642)
created his first telescope in 1608, based on descriptions from the
Netherlands where the device was invented.



He initially produced a lens able to magnify objects threefold and soon after created a lens with a magnification of 32.



This put him in a nearly unique position, as he was one of the few
people at the time with a lens powerful enough to observe the sky.



He started making regular recorded observations in 1609 and in 1610,
discovered three of Jupiter's moons. He initially thought they were
stars but observing their changing position, soon concluded they were
orbiting Jupiter.



Galileo later used his powerful telescope to observe the various phases of Venus.



Both sets of observations played a crucial role in his conclusion that
the sun was at the centre of the universe, rather than the Earth, as
was commonly believed at the time.



Church opposition to Galileo's sun-centred model flared up immediately in 1612 and would dog Galileo for the rest of his life.



In 1633 he was tried and convicted of heresy and a ban was imposed on
the publication or reprinting of any of his works. He was then placed
under house arrest, where he spent the remaining nine years of his life.



This fall the Vatican opened an exhibition dedicated to the one-time
heretic, who was rehabilitated in 1992 by Pope John Paul II who
admitted the Church had made a ''tragic mistake'' by rejecting his
views.



The exhibition was one of a host of events celebrating the United
Nations International year of Astronomy both in Italy and abroad.