Telescopes and Detectors
Telescopes and the Discovery of the Universe
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Venus has phases

Up until the 1600s, Venus was simply a bright wandering star that moved quickly through the stars of the evening and early morning skies.

When Galileo studied it through his telescopes, he saw that it passed through phases like the Moon. He discovered that Venus was a spherical body lit by sunlight. It grew and shrank in size as it came towards and went away, each time it passed Earth on its orbit round the Sun. The amount of sun-lit surface seen from Earth varied with Its changing angle to the Sun.

Galileo discovered that Venus:

  1. reflects sunlight like the Moon
  2. has surface features like Earth
  3. shines like a star
  4. is a bright wandering star
Choose the best answer and then click the Check button.

Statis Kalyvas 2004, ESO VT2004