Galileo 400 years later........

[Ian Bennie]

Hi everyone,

just letting you know of one of my future pet observing projects.

I note that on 7 January 1610, Galileo discovered 3 of Jupiter's moons for the 1st time in human history.....then on the 11 January 1610, he noted the 4th moon (Ganymede).

So, as a bit of historic fun, I'm hoping to observe these moons on 7 & 11 January 2010 - 400 years later to the very night.

I'm hoping Jupiter will be able to be seen on those dates (?).

As my son's a primary school teacher, I'm giving him an idea for some projects his students could do, not only looking at Jupiter (binoculars only needed) but they could do a project covering some of the major historic occurrences that happened on Earth, during these last 400 years.

Galileo also observed Jupiter on 25 December, 1610, so,who knows I might get up early tomorrow, try and spot Santa and if not, catch Jupiter - 395 years after Galileo did.

Also, he first looked at Saturn through a telescope on 25 July,1610....well, I'll try for that 400 years later, too.

Merry Christmas all,

cheers
Ian

[seeker372011]

sounds like a pretty intersting project to me Ian :)

you can check if Jupiter is visible on those dates using a planetarium program such as Starry Night..or free ware such as Cartes Du Ceil

narayan