Making the far near The invention that set the stage for the ... "objective" lens—the convex lens at the far end of the telescope—Galileo ground a lens larger than he needed, for example.

Nearly 415 years ago to the day astronomer Galileo Galilei discovered the moons surrounding Jupiter looking through his homemade telescope.

Galileo Galilei, with a homemade telescope, noticed three points of light near Jupiter. Initially believing they were distant ...

Instead, they offered him payment in exchange for developing a binocular form of his invention. Shortly after he began producing his binoculars, news of the telescope reached Galileo. These days ...

Astronomical changes were brewing at the end of 1609. With the telescope having been recently invented, Galileo started playing around with it, making his own improvements to the new gadget.