Galileo's moon paintings discovered after 400 years
13 April 2012
A series of paintings of the moon by Galileo have been uncovered after 400 years.
Using his telescope Galileo made the five watercolour paintings which show the craters and valleys of the satellite.
It is not known where the illustrations, which were discovered in Galileo's own copy of Sidereus Nuncius, had been for four centuries.
Observations in the book formed the basis of Galileo's theory that the sun was at the centre of the solar system - for which he was later imprisoned for heresy.
They came to light thanks to art collector Richard Lan, who claimed they turned up in a collection in South America.
The paintings were authenticated at Humboldt University in Berlin.
