Sent to school to study medicine, Galileo Galilei might be said to have been a student with his head in the clouds or, perhaps more accurately, the stars.
Thanks to this preoccupation becoming his occupation, the 400th anniversary of the telescope is being commemorated this year, focusing light on the accomplishments of the man remembered as its creator.
According to NASA, Galileo heard about the invention of the spyglass “a device which made distant objects appear closer” in 1609. This discovery thus led him to “improve upon the spyglass and build a telescope.”
The rest, of course, is history.
Although others have been credited with building telescopes, some prior to Galileo’s lifetime four centuries ago, no other such invention was like that of the esteemed astronomer.
“It’s like everything else,” Villager Rich Freed said. “Various people have been given credit for (building) the first one.”
He added, “Even if there was somebody that had a crude one before him, they didn’t do for astronomy what (Galileo) did.”
Galileo, the Village of Mallory Square resident noted, “was the first true astronomer.”
And his acclaimed discoveries surely earn him that title.
According to NASA, through the use of his telescope, Galileo could see that “the moon was not smooth, but mountainous and pitted just like the Earth.”
In addition, his telescope led him to “discover four of the moons circling Jupiter, to study Saturn, to observe phases of Venus and to study sunspots on the sun.”
Freed, a member of a St. Petersburg astronomy club in St. Petersburg, is well acquainted with the historic astronomer.
Although he’s always enjoyed learning about space-related matters, Freed’s interest in space exploration really took off about a decade ago, he said.
“It’s one of those things you always wanted to do when you were a kid and didn’t have time,” Freed said.
These days, the amateur stargazer spends time viewing the heavens through his “homemade” Dobsonian telescope, which he’s owned for the past five years.
“It’s basically, you get more bang for your buck,” Freed explained of his Dobsonian. “It’s a much bigger telescope.”
The instrument is 5 feet in length and 12 inches in circumference, he said, adding that it’s a manual telescope as opposed to being motorized.
Villages Astronomy Club member Doug Landmann also knows a thing or two about sizable telescopes. One of the largest the Village of Sabal Chase resident owns is an “11-inch reflecting telescope,” he said.
Unlike Freed’s, however, Landmann’s device is not a Dobsonian but a Celestron model.
After constructing his first telescope while in high school, viewing the heavens through a telescope has remained an “on-again, off-again” hobby throughout Landmann’s life.
But it was only when he retired to The Villages that Landmann had time to more completely indulge his enthusiasm for astronomy.
Through technology now available to amateur astronomers, Landmann is able to see more of space than ever before.
“We have equipment today we didn’t have for years and years,” he said. “(Before), we couldn’t really get out to the deep-space objects.”
Using a camera mounted to his telescope, Landmann is able to view objects beyond what a telescope alone could show.
“The camera,” he explained, “is more sensitive to the human eye, and you can see things you can’t see through a lens.”
While Landmann most enjoys studying nebulae and other galaxies, he said he also “does some planetary viewing.”
“I just like being engaged in the science and technology part of it,” Landmann said. “There’s always new things to see.”
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