Galileo may have discovered Neptune 234 years before anyone else

[charlie]

Jamieson is investigating the notebooks of Galileo from 400 years ago and says that buried in the notations is the evidence that he discovered a new planet that we now know as Neptune, which was 'first' observed Sept 23, 1846 by Johann Galle at the Berlin Observatory..

...

Galileo was observing the moons of Jupiter in the years 1612 and 1613 and recorded his observations in his notebooks. Over several nights he also recorded the position of a nearby star which does not appear in any modern star catalogue.

"It has been known for several decades that this unknown star was actually the planet Neptune. Computer simulations show the precision of his observations revealing that Neptune would have looked just like a faint star almost exactly where Galileo observed it," Professor Jamieson says.

...

There is also a mysterious unlabeled black dot in his earlier observations of January 6, 1613, which is in the right position to be Neptune.

"I believe this dot could reveal he went back in his notes to record where he saw Neptune earlier when it was even closer to Jupiter but had not previously attracted his attention because of its unremarkable star-like appearance."

http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_articles/did_galileo_discover_neptune_234_years_anyone_else

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

1. Pluto was mistaken for a star when first observed too

Then it was noticed that it had moved, and Pluto is still a gosh-darn planet in this house, the haters make me go momma grizzly.

[charlie]

3. Lol

I have an inexplicable fondness for poor beleaguered Pluto too, dunno why. Maybe because a mere 8 planets sounds wrong after all these years. And the plucky little smidge has 3 moons, it should get some credit for effort.

[Occam Bandage]

2. That scarcely counts as discovering Neptune.

There's no evidence presented that Galileo ever considered the dot a planet. There's not even any evidence that he considered it anything but one star out of thousands in the night sky.

[The Sushi Bandit]

4. That's OLD News!

LOL

[omega minimo]

5. UnBurn him!

[charlie]

6. Haw!

:thumbsup: :D

[omega minimo]

7. Damned visionaries, can't they stay

on the fringe where they belong!! :evilfrown:

[ControlledDemolition]

8. The Sumerians knew about it thousands of years beforehand. n/t