On January 7, 1610, the Italian astronomer Galileo discovered three of Jupiter's moons: Callisto, Europa and Io.
When he looked at Jupiter through his telescope, he saw what he thought were three tiny stars in the background, and he sketched their locations. The next day, he looked again and saw the three stars were not where he thought they'd be. Instead of being "fixed" in the background like other stars, they moved along with the planet, and Galileo realised that Jupiter had moons. Besides Earth's moon, these were the first natural satellites anyone had ever seen in the solar system.
When he looked at Jupiter through his telescope, he saw what he thought were three tiny stars in the background, and he sketched their locations. The next day, he looked again and saw the three stars were not where he thought they'd be. Instead of being "fixed" in the background like other stars, they moved along with the planet, and Galileo realised that Jupiter had moons. Besides Earth's moon, these were the first natural satellites anyone had ever seen in the solar system.
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00:00On this day, in space.
00:04On January 7th, 1610, the Italian astronomer Galileo discovered
00:08three of Jupiter's moons, Callisto, Europa, and Io.
00:12When he looked at Jupiter through his telescope, he saw what he thought were three tiny stars in the
00:16background, and he sketched their locations. The next day, he looked again
00:20and saw that the three stars were not where he thought they'd be. Instead of being fixed
00:24in the background like other stars, they moved along with the planet, and Galileo realized
00:28that Jupiter had moons. Besides Earth's moon, these were the first natural
00:32satellites anyone had ever seen in the solar system. And that's what happened
00:36on this day in space.
00:40Music