Word: galilei
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...took another 1,400 years, and the invention of the telescope, before Saturn was really established as a planet. In July of 1610, Italian Astronomer Galileo Galilei contemplated Saturn through a new, 8-power spyglass. He was stunned. The familiar planet seemed to have sprouted ears or handles. Galileo assumed that Saturn's ears were moons like those of Jupiter, which he had discovered only a few months earlier. But when he looked again, some time later, he got another surprise: the moons had vanished. Whimsically, he asked: "Has Saturn, perhaps, devoured his own children...