The International
Astronomical Union has deemed this
year the International
Year of Astronomy 2009 and hopes
that programs carried out around the world will help “citizens of the world
rediscover their place in the Universe
through the day- and night-time sky, and thereby engage a personal
sense of wonder and discovery.” One of the IAU’s cornerstone projects
for the IYA2009 is the 100
Hours of Astronomy, which is set to begin on
April 2nd. By looking up and observing the wonders of our Universe, the IAU hopes that people can get the same sense of amazement that Galileo
felt 400 years ago, when mankind first started to gain a deeper
understanding of the cosmos.

In 1609, Galileo Galilei built his first telescope based on the
description of one built by Hans Lippershey a year earlier.
With his simple device, Galileo would revolutionize the field of
astronomy and help usher in the scientific revolution. His
observational contributions include the discovery of the four of
Jupiter’s moons—now named the Galilean moons—the
rings of
Saturn, sunspots, and the phases of Venus. In the process, he lent key pieces of
evidence to the shift away from geocentric universe
models—the fact
that the moon is a rough rock analogous to Earth, among others—and helped change humanity’s thoughts on our place in that universe.

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