Around this this time of year in 1610 the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei made his first observation of the four Galilean moons through his telescope. These moons were named Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa, after characters in Greek mythology. On this day, January 7, of that year Galileo wrote a letter in which Jupiter’s moons are mentioned for the first time. However, Galileo was not able to distinguish all four individual moons right away.
Galileo’s telescope not only allowed him to see these moons, it also allowed him to see our Earth’s moon, different phases of the planet Venus, and sun spots. Galileo is also famous for demonstrating that all of the planets and our whole solar system revolved around the Sun, not the Earth. Kids love learning about about the planets and outer space, you can all explore with Galileo in your classroom.
The Cornell University Department of Astronomy shares a number of resources for learning more about Galileo and his work, including this fun lunar observation activity from “Galileo for Kids: His Life and Ideas” by Richard Panchyk (Chicago Review
Press, 2005.) You can prepare your students to make their own observations at home, and then discuss their observations together as a class.
You can also explore the planets with my book “Our Planets” This third grade Level N reader explores many interesting facts about the planets in our solar system. Visit my Pintrest page for more creative and exciting way to explore astronomy with your class!
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