This Day In History

Nov. 30th, 2009 at 5:11 PM

An email from Steward Observatory, University of Arizona:

"I can not let this day pass without mentioning that the first celestial observation made with a telescope by Galileo Galilei was on November 30, 1609...exactly 400 years ago today!

"Galileo observed a waxing crescent Moon just after sunset. It was today's anniversary which prompted the United Nations to proclaim 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy."

Current Music:See the Constellations (They Might Be Giants)

Comments

( 8 comments — Leave a comment )

herooftheage

Nov. 30th, 2009 10:25 pm (UTC)

So it would seem to me that astronomical anniversaries really ought to take into account calendar adjustments that have happened in the interim. Though come to think of it, for all I know, this one already has.

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wcg

Nov. 30th, 2009 10:26 pm (UTC)

I'd celebrate the anniversary by observing the waxing gibbous moon, but it's raining.

(Also, I think he was on the old calendar in 1609, wasn't he? So today is only November 17th by that reckoning. I think we need to wait another 13 days before we'll have gone the full 400 years.)

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brotherguy

Nov. 30th, 2009 10:56 pm (UTC)

The calendar reform took effect in 1582 in all civilized (i.e. Catholic) countries. You are thinking of the barbarous north, where it took another 200 years for them to catch up. Heck, up there they were still building their churches out of wood! (I once made that comment while visiting King's Chapel in Cambridge. It was not appreciated...)

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wcg

Nov. 30th, 2009 11:30 pm (UTC)

Among my cousins in southwest Ireland there are some who still haven't accepted the Gregorian calendar. I think it's mostly because they get 13 more days of drinking before Lent.

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