Yesterday evening at 10:39pm in Tualatin, what would Galileo have seen through one of his early telescopes, with its 9x magnification? Well, there would be Jupiter, of course, with its four visible moons. And the Moon would soon rise, so he could examine the cratering.
But wait! What is that "star" moving majestically through the heavens, from west to east? Bright as Venus, what could it be?
"Quick, Mr. Galilei -- get your telescope! Oh, you didn't bring it with you through the Time Portal? Here, use my telephoto lens! It magnifies nine times; about the same as your newly-improved telescope. Still see only a bright dot? No problem; just push that button near your finger, and the image will be magically captured for later, additional study."
So, that's what "Galileo" did last night, and here is the result:
Okay, I suppose Galileo did not have a 10.1 megapixel image sensor on the viewing end of his telescope. Nor did he have the ability to magnify an additional 2x in a photo editor, or increase the contrast a bit. (You can click on the image for the original, full-frame shot.) But if he had, I wonder what Galileo would have thought about the gold-colored appendage?
"Oh, the golden tail Mr. Galilei? That's one of the celestial dragon's solar cell arrays." :-)
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