Who discovered the Galaxy?
– The Nature of the Milky Way. Listen – Tuesday –> Before the invention of the telescope, no one new the nature of the Milky Way. Galileo realised that it was a glowing band of stars across the sky and the philosopher Immanuel Kant recognised that our Sun was just one member of a vast star system. But for centuries, few recognised the true nature of our Galaxy. In the late 19th century, William Herschel realised that the Milky Way was a giant disk of stars, but still his discovery was ignored. It was not until early in the 20th century that Harlow Shapley began to estimate the distances of the stars and hence map out the Milky Way in three-dimensional detail. Finally came radio astronomy and the ability to penetrate the dark clouds towards the galactic centre and see the true distribution of matter in our Galaxy. Episode 18: Deep Space – Nebulae Are Island Universes.. Listen – Wednesday –> In 1845 the third Earl of Rosse completed the biggest telescope in the world at his castle in t
