The telescope invented and constructed by Galileo (1564-1642) achieved a 30x magnification (about the same as a modern, medium-priced pair of binoculars), this enabling him to make ground-breaking discoveries about our solar system. Galileo had the advantages of a Mediterranean climate, little atmospheric pollution and minimal light pollution, compared to the 21st century.
Both Copernicus and Galileo retained their Catholic faith in the face of mounting opposition from the Church. However, as I was reminded by a brilliant recent tv programme, the Catholic Church has been responsible for a rich history of astronomical research with their modern powerful telescope sited at the Poe’s summer residence at Castel Gandolfo in the Apennine foothills east of Rome.
Since 1990 the World’s knowledge of the Universe has been immeasurably increased by the images taken by the Hubble telescope, orbiting Earth every hour-and-a-half 300 miles above our planet’s surface. So what we cannot see it can – and much more.
The above picture is, according to Professor Brian Cox, Wonders of the Universe (1996, 55), ‘one of the most important pictures taken by Hubble Space Telescope … and shows some of the most distant galaxies’ (as pin-pricks of light).