15th February Galileo Day

15th February each year is Galileo Day - a celebration of the anniversary of Italian Galileo Galilei's birth in 1564. He died on 8th January 1642. He was a physicist, a mathematician, an astronomer and a philosopher. Galileo was best known for his work supporting Copernicanism, showing the Earth was in fact not at the centre of the universe. He was the scientist who first saw the craters of the Moon, the moons of Jupiter, and the phases of Venus. His discoveries shook the world and proved that the planets orbit the Sun!

Galileo was a truly inspirational scientist. Like Darwin, the ideas he put forward, though correct, were met with large amounts of controversy and resistance from the Church. However, he stuck to the scientific method and followed the conclusions the evidence led to. He built on what Nicolaus Copernicus (born 19th February, 1473) believed and went on to prove him correct. It will be Copernicus Day on the 19th February. 

The library has many books about astronomy, but these are about Galileo in particular:

18th May International Astronomy Day

International Astronomy Day is a holiday that is celebrated not once during a calendar year but twice a year – once in spring and once in autumn. The purpose of this holiday is not only to celebrate astronomy and all of its contributions to society but also to bring the general public together with astronomy professionals and groups.

Astronomy goes all the way back to antiquity and is in fact, one of the oldest natural sciences in the world.

Of course you can just go outside and look up at the sky, but to know what you are looking at, you may need to look in a few books first.

Do you have a telescope? What can you do with a telescope? What will you see?

These books will help answer these questions.

Some books that will help with knowing what you're looking at:

This is a new Australian book from the CSIRO and a book by Australian astronomer Lisa Harvey-Smith.

Then if you know a child who is astronomy-mad and sees their future being a contributor to that world, explore some of the wonderful picture book biographies about famous space devotees.