Latest Galileo Galilei Stories

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Scientists from the University of Maryland and the Max-Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany appear to have solved a long-standing mystery about the cause of anomalies in Jupiter's gossamer rings.In a new study published in the May 1 issue of Nature, they report that a faint extension of the outermost ring beyond the orbit of Jupiter's moon Thebe, and other observed deviations from an accepted model of ring formation, result from the interplay of shadow and...

Saturn: jewel of the solar system, taker of breaths, ringed beauty. Even veteran astronomers can't help but gasp when they see her through a small telescope.Red Alert: Saturn's rings are vanishing.Around the world, amateur astronomers have noticed the change; Saturn's wide open rings are rapidly narrowing into a thin line."The rings have narrowed considerably in the last year," Efrain Morales Rivera reports. "The Cassini division (a dark gap in the rings) is getting hard to see." Four...

In the folklore of physics, no story is better known than the tale of Galileo dropping balls from the Leaning Tower of Pisa and proving that gravity accelerates all objects equally regardless of their masses or composition. This is called the "equivalence principle," and it is a cornerstone of modern physics. But was Galileo correct? NASA -- Standing on the Moon in 1971, Apollo 15 astronaut Dave Scott held his hands out at shoulder height, a hammer in one hand and a feather in the...

CHICAGO -- Like cell phones or the Internet in recent history, the telescope's introduction in the early 17th Century had a swift and lasting impact on the world. Telescopes revolutionized military strategy and within months showed the father of astronomy, Galileo Galilei, that Earth is not the center of the universe. Until recently, scholars thought only 8 or 10 of these important early telescopes _ made between 1608 and 1650 of tightly rolled paper and crudely ground lenses _ had...

HONG KONG -- Famed physicist Stephen Hawking said Thursday that Pope John Paul II tried to discourage him and other scientists attending a cosmology conference at the Vatican from trying to figure out how the universe began.The British scientist joked he was lucky the pope didn't realize he had already presented a paper at the gathering suggesting how the universe was created."I didn't fancy the thought of being handed over to the Inquisition like Galileo," Hawking said in a...

By Alan ElsnerMT. GRAHAM, Ariz -- From his vantage point atop the highest peak in southern Arizona, Father Jose Funes is lining up the Vatican telescope for a night of observation, probing the processes that lead galaxies to form and stars to be born.Funes, an astronomer and a Jesuit priest, is one of a dozen scientists, most of them Jesuits, associated with the Vatican Observatory Research Group that operate the Arizona telescope and engages in advanced astrophysics, cosmology and galactic...

Sunspot, NM -- The planet Venus is best known for the thick layers of clouds that veil its surface from view by telescopes on Earth. But the veil has holes, and a New Mexico State University scientist plans on using a solar telescope to peer through them to study the weather on Venus."Observations of Venus from a nighttime telescope at a single location are very difficult because Venus is so close to the Sun in the sky," said Dr. Nancy Chanover, a planetary scientist at NMSU in Las...

VATICAN CITY -- A Vatican cardinal said Thursday the faithful should listen to what secular modern science has to offer, warning that religion risks turning into "fundamentalism" if it ignores scientific reason.Cardinal Paul Poupard, who heads the Pontifical Council for Culture, made the comments at a news conference on a Vatican project to help end the "mutual prejudice" between religion and science that has long bedeviled the Roman Catholic Church and is part of the...

CASTELGANDOLFO, Italy -- Everyone knows the Vatican is interested in Heaven but it may come as a surprise to some that it is also interested in the heavens. In this sleepy lakeside village away from the noise and haste of Rome, the Vatican is helping to train tomorrow's astronomers -- regardless of their religious beliefs. For the past 20 years, the Vatican Observatory, one of the world's oldest astronomical institutes, has selected young, promising scholars for courses at the papal summer...

Mercury, Venus and Saturn are converging for a spectacular close encounter this weekend. Science@NASA -- Stick up your thumb and hold it at arm's length. It doesn't seem very big, does it? But it is, big enough to hide three planets.This weekend Mercury, Venus and Saturn are going to crowd together in a patch of sky no bigger than your thumb. Astronomers call it a "conjunction" and it's going to be spectacular.The show begins on Saturday evening, June 25th. Step outside and look...