Well, any of us who has ever looked through a telescope could say the same, for the two principal types in use today were developed by giants: the refractor by Galileo and the reflector by Newton.

Inset: Galileo's sketch of the triple body he saw through his early telescope. Credit: Galileo Galilei Saturn is one of the five classical planets visible to the unaided eye. Astronomers of ...

Produced in conjunction with the Galileo Museum in Florence, the exhibition opens a window on a crucial period in the astronomer’s life – after he became famous for turning his telescope onto ...