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Re:Galileo was right, but so were his critics (2015) by carlob on Friday February 28, 2020 @03:34AM (#22441382)
In Rome, on top of the church of Saint Ignatius (you know the one that has a tromp l'oeil dome), just behind the building that used to house the very first Jesuit school (ask a Jesuit and they will say the very first school in the modern sense), used to be the Vatican astronomical observatory. Nowadays there is nothing much left to see, since all of the scientific instruments were moved to a museum in Florence when Rome became part of Italy in 1870. The place is not open to the public, but if you know a friendly Jesuit you can take an elevator from within the church and take a look around.

The first time I went there, the Jesuit who was accompanying me told me that Galileo had visited this place, and that the story of church vs. science that we've all learnt in school was very simplified. Apparently Riccioli defended a hybrid geo-heliocentric model (due to Tycho Brahe) where the earth is at the center of the universe, the sun and moon revolve around it, but all the other planets revolve around the sun. We now know neither the sun, nor the earth is at the center of the universe, so both models were equally wrong, however according to my Jesuit guide, Riccioli's point of view was the only one that would have been both theologically acceptable and scientifically sound.

I guess what is really wrong about the classical story of Galileo's trial is that the catholic church is not and never was a monolithic entity: there are factions, dissent, political agendas.

If you're interested in further reading on Riccioli the Wikipedia page is very detailed:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Battista_Riccioli#Arg...

Re:Galileo was right, but so were his critics (2015) by throw0101a on Friday February 28, 2020 @06:44AM (#22442114)
> used to be the Vatican astronomical observatory.

The observatory was later moved to Castle Gandolfo:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Observatory

After the light pollution got too bad, its use was retired, and now things are run out of Arizona:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Advanced_Technology_Te...

The head dude is Brother Guy, and he has some interesting interviews if you search for him:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Consolmagno

Re:Galileo was right, but so were his critics (2015) by martinbalsam on Friday February 28, 2020 @08:25AM (#22442587)
what a coincidence, edu-Youtuber Brady Haran just uploaded three videos about the Vatican Observatory, a long interview with brother Guy and the their collection of space rocks:

The Pope's Space Rocks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OI4wb2XIZc

The Pope's Telescopes - Deep Sky Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccoGKAL6Qas

The Pope's Astronomer - Sixty Symbols

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0DAKaR16cY