"I'm trying to write a play about Copernicus. I like him a lot, but it's not the same," David Letterman says of his former co-star Galileo. "He was just kind of a kiss butt." He adds that he didn't publish until he was ready to die and there is a preface in front of his book for calculating orbits.
This year marks the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s use of the first telescope. On this week’s show, we reflect on how telescopes have shifted our perspective on how small we are in size, space, and time. We also discuss how they help astronomers discover new and interesting aspects of the universe, from Earth-like planets to supernova, from black holes to the Big Bang.
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