Works
Galileo's 1610 The Starry Messenger (Sidereus Nuncius) was the first scientific treatise to be published based on observations made through a telescope. It reported his discoveries of
- the Galilean moons
- the roughness of the Moon's surface
- the existence of a large number of stars invisible to the naked eye, particularly those responsible for the appearance of the Milky Way
- differences between the appearances of the planets and those of the fixed stars the former appearing as small discs, while the latter appeared as unmagnified points of light
Summary of Galileo's published written works
Galileo's main written works are as follows
- The Little Balance (1586)
- On Motion (1590)
- Mechanics (1600)
- The Starry Messenger (1610)
- Discourse on Floating Bodies (1612)
- Letters on Sunspots (1613)
- Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina (1615)
- Discourse on the Tides (1616)
- Discourse on the Comets (1619)
- The Assayer (1623)
- Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632)
- Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences (1638)