Every time I see Jupiter and its large moons, I think about how amazing it must’ve been for Galileo to observe this dance in the night sky
Like can you imagine seeing these “stars” twirl around Jupiter and being like “Whoa dude” (experts do not agree that this quote is from Galileo and in fact may be from this author’s love of Bill & Ted). This is Galileo’s observations in 1610 (410 years ago) 
Also fun fact, Galileo wanted to name the four moons after his patrons, the Medicis, and I have yet to see anyone offer this good a tier on Patreon. It was Kepler who suggested the mythological references we know and love today.
It would take almost 300 years (1892) before someone would find another moon of Jupiter. We are currently at 79 moons of Jupiter (many don’t even have names yet)!
But before you go off and think “all the good stuff is done, Bobak,” let me tell you that in the last 25 years we’ve discovered exoplanets (you can see the whole database @aussiastronomer has helped build here: exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu), and we’re up to 4183 planets!
And now folks are beginning to look for evidence of exomoons, or moons orbiting those exoplanets - even harder to detect, but there are already many candidates, like a Neptune-sized moon orbiting a planet several times larger than Jupiter (Kepler-1625b). advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/10/e…
In our own solar system, we’re only just beginning to understand the potential for moons to be potential sources for life, as missions like Galileo and Cassini have hinted at with Europa and Enceladus, and hopefully more dedicated missions like @EuropaClipper will follow
If you’re out there tonight or any other night, seeing the whirling planets and the twinkling stars, I hope it will bring you some joy, and you’ll keep a little hope and excitement in your heart for all the amazing discoveries to come.
Two things -
1) you’ve just witnessed me go into my own rabbit hole
2) I am aware that we cannot take this endeavor for granted and we’re extremely privileged to live in a society and have folks like you that support this work. Thank you.
1) you’ve just witnessed me go into my own rabbit hole
2) I am aware that we cannot take this endeavor for granted and we’re extremely privileged to live in a society and have folks like you that support this work. Thank you.
