• Features
• 
  WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
• Galileo's Contradiction: The Astronomer Who Riled the Inquisition Fathered Two Nuns
  A Q&A with author Dava Sobel

• Features
• 
  OWEN GINGERICH
• An Astronomer's Astronomer: Kepler's Revolutionary Achievements in 1609 Rival Galileo's
  The International Year of Astronomy marks the 400th anniversary of German astronomer Johannes Kepler's breakthroughs as well as those of his better-known Italian contemporary

• Features
• 
  The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia
• 10 Telescopes That Changed Our View of the Universe [Slide Show]
  Historic telescopes through the ages, from Galileo to the 21st century

• Observations
• 
• What Galileo and Scientific American have in common: Honored Italian heritage
  In the year of Galileo, it is only fitting that the Italian Heritage and Culture Committee of New York would structure its annual celebration of Italian heritage in part around the famed Italian astronomer

 

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Observations
17th-century Brueghel paintings trace the early, mysterious history of the telescope
A pair of Italian researchers argues that a partial record of the muddied early history of the telescope resides in the works of Jan Brueghel the Elder

News Blog
NASA and ESA headed back to Jupiter's moons
The space agencies unveiled their joint plans for exploring the outer planets, choosing to head to Jupiter and four of its moons before further exploring the Saturn system. The announcement coincides with the International Year of Astronomy celebrating Galileo, who discovered the Jovian moons 400 years ago

News Blog
Astronomers retrace Galileo's discoveries with a replica of his 400-year-old telescope
Italian scientists have re-created one of Galileo's scopes in the hope of seeing the universe just as he saw it

News Blog
Was Galileo second fiddle--er, telescope--to Harriot?
A University of Oxford historian argues that an unheralded astronomical pioneer deserves recognition alongside his better known contemporaries

Scientific American Magazine
Inspirations in Space and Closer to Home
Astronomers are finding new planets; humanitarians are improving this one

News Blog
Heads up: 100 Hours of Astronomy celebration starts today
A four-day celestial celebration called 100 Hours of Astronomy formed a microcosm of the International Astronomical Union's International Year of Astronomy

Scientific American Magazine
Sacred Science: Using Faith to Explain Anomalies in Physics
Can emergence break the spell of reductionism and put spirituality back into nature?

Scientific American Magazine
In Our Expanding Universe, Earth Is Nothing Special
We're an ordinary species on an ordinary planet. Or are we?