Galileo Observes Neptune But Doesn't Realize It's a Planet
Galileo saw it. Twice. December 28, 1612, then again January 28, 1613 — Neptune right there in his telescope, moving against the background stars near Jupiter. But he marked it down as "fixed star" in his notebooks and moved on. He was tracking Jupiter's moons, the discovery that had made him famous, and this dim dot didn't fit his mission. The math wouldn't exist for another 233 years to predict where Neptune should be. When astronomers finally calculated its position in 1846, they checked old records. There was Galileo's notation: an unnamed star that shouldn't have been there. He'd held the discovery in his hands and set it back down.
December 28, 1612
414 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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