Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Format of the Atlas
- 3 Making the maps
- 4 Geology of the Galilean satellites: An introduction to the images
- 5 The satellites
- 6 One big happy …
- Atlas of the Galilean Satellites
- Appendix 1 Glossary
- Appendix 2 Supplemental readings
- Appendix 3 Index maps of high-resolution images
- Appendix 4 Data tables
- Appendix 5 Nomenclature gazetteer
- Index
1 - Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Format of the Atlas
- 3 Making the maps
- 4 Geology of the Galilean satellites: An introduction to the images
- 5 The satellites
- 6 One big happy …
- Atlas of the Galilean Satellites
- Appendix 1 Glossary
- Appendix 2 Supplemental readings
- Appendix 3 Index maps of high-resolution images
- Appendix 4 Data tables
- Appendix 5 Nomenclature gazetteer
- Index
Summary
The revolutionary importance of the Galilean satellites
Watershed moments, upon which the fates of nations, continents, or peoples hinge, are rare in human history. The Battle of Salamis in 480 BC, the Battle of Zama in 202 BC (my sympathies are with Carthage), the defeat of the Moors by Charles Martel in AD 732, the Sack of Constantinople in 1204, the death of Ogedei Khan as his armies approached Wien (Vienna) in 1241, the coming of the Black Plague in the fourteenth century, and the Czar's and Kaiser's decision to mobilize in August 1914 come to mind.
In this year 2009, we approach the 400th anniversary of another of these watershed events: the discovery of Jupiter's four large Galilean satellites, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, in January 1610 by Italian scientist Galileo Galilei. Galileo, sometimes falsely credited with invention of the telescope, perfected the basic instrument and was the first to point one at the heavens in earnest. Importantly for Galileo, he was quick to understand the revolutionary import of what he saw. Every object he observed, starting with the Moon, followed by Venus and Jupiter, revealed fundamental truths hidden to the naked eye that profoundly altered our perception of how the Universe worked, and in turn our worldview of ourselves and our place as a species in the Universe.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Atlas of the Galilean Satellites , pp. 1 - 6Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010