Galileo+by+urBFF912

=__GALILEO__=

Introduction
Galileo Galilei was born in 1564 in Pisa, Italy. His father was known for having creative ideas, and arguing them very strongly, no matter who it was that he was arguing with. Galileo inherited this trait. Galileo was born in a time when the Catholic Church had the most control, even more control than the government. The Church believed in the ideas of Aristotle, a Greek philosopher born in 384 B. C. Aristotle believed that Earth was the center of the universe and that it didn't move or spin and that everything G-d created had to be perfect. The Church liked Aristotle's ideas, and anyone who disagreed with them was convicted of heresy. Galileo went to the University of Pisa, and started arguing his new ideas from a very young age. He was going to study medicine, but instead found that he had a talent for math and science, so he became an astronomer. He discovered the idea of a pendulum, where no matter how far something swings, it always takes the same amount of time to complete that swing. He also disproved Aristotle's theory that only one force could act on an object in an instant by shooting cannonballs and explaining that they were acting on gravity and the force of them being blasted from the cannon. Galileo also discovered the phases of Venus, the craters on the moon, that Earth goes around the sun and rotates on it's axis, and that there are moons of Jupiter and about sunspots. All of these disproved Aristotle's ideas about a perfect universe that remained calm and still and never changed and had us humans at it's center. However, when Galileo wrote a book on his findings, the Church convicted him for heresy, and he was sentenced to home arrest for life. The punishment could've been death or torture, but Galileo had friends who worked in the Church, so he was spared. He died in his home in 1642.

Moon Observations
Galileo discovered, while looking through his telescope, that the moon has craters and mountains, some taller than Earth's mountains. It's surface was not round and smooth, but bumpy and marred. This disproved Aristotle's theory that everything in the universe was perfect and never changed.





Jupiter and its Moons
Galileo discovered that Jupiter has four moons that orbit it while looking through a telescope. That meant that other objects in space orbit other objects in space, not just Earth. Galileo named the moons after the four sons of the Medicci family, a very powerful family of that time who he worked for. He hoped to impress them and gain their admiration.



Saturn's Rings
Galileo was looking at Saturn through a telescope when he noticed something on either side of Saturn, making it look not round. At first, he thought it was a triple planet, but soon realized that Saturn had rings, made of ice and rock that collected around the planet.



Venus and it's Phases
In September of 1610, Galileo noticed something strange about Venus. He noticed that it has phases, just like our moon. Those who believed in Aristotle's ideas agreed that Venus had phases, but they thought that that was proof that Venus moves around Earth. But the phases of Venus are much longer than the moon's, and Venus's take 1 and a half years, meaning that if Venus orbited Earth, it's orbit would be huge. However, it made sense to think that Venus was closer to the Sun than Earth, with both of the planets orbiting the Sun. This made sense because at one point, Venus must pass between Earth and the Sun, blocking it's light and appearing to be a "new Venus," like a new moon. When Venus is on the other side of the Sun from Earth, it is in "full Venus" stage.



Sunspots on the Sun
In 1613, Galileo noticed some spots across the face of the Sun. They were sunspots, caused by magnetic activity and convection, causing differences of temperature on the surface of the sun. This disproved Aristotle's theory that all heavenly bodies are perfect and unmarred.