A Backyard Astronomer's Diary 5 - Observing Venus
Update: 2023-02-20
Description
In October, 1610, Galileo turned his telescope on Venus. He followed the planet and watched it change phases like the moon, going from gibbous to a thin crescent over several months. The appearance of phases demonstrated clearly that Venus orbits the sun, not the earth. Galileo was not surprised by this observation, it had been predicted as a necessary consequence of the Copernican model which held that the earth and planets orbit the sun. Hypothesis led to prediction which lead to an observational test. The phases of Venus, from crescent to half lit to gibbous, provided a key piece of scientific insight into the notion of a sun-centered solar-system.
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