Starry-Eyed
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It was on this day in 1621 that a scientist named Galileo perfected his invention, the telescope. A telescope is a long, skinny tube with a "lens," a curved piece glass at one end that makes everything look bigger, much the way magnifying glasses and binoculars work. Telescopes have much stronger "magnification," though, and help you see extremely faraway objects like planets and stars. This was a big deal in 1621, when people were still arguing about whether the Earth goes around the Sun or the other way around. Galileo's telescope helped people understand our universe better. You can relive his excitement yourself: if you look at the sky on a clear night with your unaided eye, then again through a telescope (or even binoculars), you'll see many more stars the second time. In fact, scientists using the Kepler Space Telescope over the past 3 years have spotted over 3,000 objects that could be planets like Earth - and about 100 of them could even have life on them!
With that, a reminder that you could win a telescope if you enter Bedtime Math's "Moon and Stars" campaign by this Friday, December 6...check it out here and see for yourself!
