Galileo and the International Year of Astronomy
A look at the legacy of Galileo Galilei, 400 years after the Italian astronomer turned his spyglass toward the heavens
Galileo's Contradiction: The Astronomer Who Riled the Inquisition Fathered 2 Nuns
A Q&A with author Dava Sobel
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
10 Telescopes That Changed Our View of the Universe [Slide Show]
Historic telescopes through the ages, from Galileo to the 21st century

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...

17th-century Brueghel paintings trace the early, mysterious history of the telescope
Thanks to the much-heralded International Year of Astronomy, this much we know: Galileo used a telescope to observe the moon in 1609. But the inventor of the revolutionary resolutionary device remains unknown, and its early history is muddied by simultaneous discoveries and competing claims...

NASA and ESA headed back to Jupiter's moons
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) today unveiled their joint plans for exploring the outer planets, choosing to head to Jupiter and four of its moons before further exploring the moons of Saturn...

Astronomers retrace Galileo's discoveries with a replica of his 400-year-old telescope
For astronomy buffs, the arrival of 2009 brings more than just resolutions to eat better or live more frugally. The fledgling year has been designated the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Astronomical Union...

Was Galileo second fiddle--er, telescope--to Harriot?
The International Year of Astronomy (IYA), now under way, marks the 400th anniversary of the year that famed Italian astronomer Galileo began observing and documenting the heavens with increasingly powerful telescopes...

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

Heads up: 100 Hours of Astronomy celebration starts today
Stargazers take note: Today marks the beginning of a four-day celestial celebration called 100 Hours of Astronomy, part of the International Astronomical Union's International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009)...

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

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

Dome Big Dome: Giant Observatories Augur New Era of Cosmology
When a new generation of giant ground-based telescopes comes online in the next decade, human eyes will see what no one has seen before

400 years ago, Galileo's telescope was ready for prime time
As commemorated by the International Year of Astronomy and observed elsewhere on this site, 2009 marks the 400th anniversary of the year that astronomer Galileo Galilei began fashioning his own telescopes and turning them to the heavens...

From Astronomy to Zune
Scientific American astronomy expert George Musser discusses the recent meeting of the American Astronomical Society and SciAm.com 's Larry Greenemeier reports on the Consumer Electronics Show...