sidereusnuncius

8/13/2019 sidereusnuncius

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Alan Zhang

12/1/2013

History of Art and Science

Professor Mazzotti and Professor FrickeThe Impact of the Starry Message

With the invention of the telescope at the beginning of the 17th

century, suddenly

scientists and observers were able to view things from a much further distance. One man named

Galileo Galilei, was the first to modify and use the newly invented telescope to view celestial

bodies in the heavens. In 1610, Galileo published the Sidereus Nuncius, or the Starry Message, a

short treatise that details his observations of the sky/heavens made with the newly invented

telescope. Although he had no ill intentions when deciding to publish his findings, Galileo

quickly found himself in trouble with the Church, who claimed his findings disagreed with their

values and teachings. The new discoveries made by Galileo in the Sidereus Nuncius established

imperfections of the heavens, undermining the teachings of the Church, thus leading to a large

impact on Italian society at the time.

The content of the Sidereus Nuncius is detailed and intricate, containing many drawings

of the Moon, certain constellations such as Orion, Taurus, and Pleiades, and four of the moons of

Jupiter, also called the Medicean stars after the Medici family. In his observations of the moon,

Galileo notes that the line that separates the dark and bright side of the moon was not smooth and

regular, but darker in some areas, and brighter in others. This key observation led him to deduce

that the darker regions of the moon are actually lower, flat regions of the moon, whereas the

brighter regions are actually elevated and mountainous areas of the moon. To be concise, the

moon is imperfect. Following his observations of the moon, Galileo also noted that he could see



almost ten times as many stars through the telescope than with the naked eye, in addition to four

of the “stars” that orbit Jupiter.

Before looking at the moon with the telescope, the Aristotelian concept believed that the

moon was perfect and smooth, as it was a celestial body of the heavens and could not be

imperfect. Thus, discovering the imperfections of the moon led to a shattering of the Aristotelian

concept of the moon, intriguing scientists and intellectuals, but distancing the Church. Quickly

rising in society was the cleft between the Aristotelian geocentric view of the, immobile,

unchanging heavens, versus the Copernican heliocentric view of a more chaotic heavens. Some

clung to the Aristotelian view, doubting the discoveries published in the Sidereus Nuncius and

claimed defects of the telescope Galileo developed. These individuals denied the existence of the

four moons of Jupiter, and because Galileo named the moons after the Grand Duke of Cosimo,

the Medicean family, these claims and counter-claims became a matter of state. Other

individuals tried to fit these new discoveries into the Aristotelian doctrine. One of these inviduals,

Johannes Heckius, claimed that the discovery of these new stars had no impact on the existence

and incorruptibility of the heavens. Above all, the publishing of the Sidereus Nuncius led to a

development in the field of astronomy, setting an example and a milestone for other astronomers,

paving the way for the intellectual community of Italy. Unfortunately, as Galileo gradually began

speaking of the heliocentric theory as fact instead of theory, the Church grew displeased and

placed him under house arrest.

The Sidereus Nuncius was a milestone in the Renaissance, representing discovery and

expansion of knowledge, leading to the progress of science and astronomy while challenging the

Aristotelian views of the Church.

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