Four hundred years since Galileo Galilei first gazed into outer space, UF scientists are still searching the corners of the universe through new technological developments.
About 115 people gathered to honor Galileo's discoveries and celebrate the International Year of Astronomy on Friday night at the New Physics Building, hosted by UF's Department of Astronomy and the Alachua County Astronomy Club.
Visitors could view a projection screen hanging near the entrance showing the program "Around the World in 80 Telescopes." The show was a live, 24-hour broadcast of the efforts of about 140 countries to bring attention to astronomy and some of the most advanced observatories in the world, said UF astronomy professor Vicki Sarajedini, a coordinator of the event.
She said UF astronomy professor Anthony Gonzalez broadcasted from Gainesville on Saturday at 3 a.m. to tout UF's recent development of the CanariCam, an infrared camera meant to capture images of very cold objects in space. It was made for a recently built observatory in the Canary Islands, which UF helped fund.
UF contributed about five percent of the project's cost, which totaled about $130 million, in exchange for five percent of the available observation time, according to the observatory's Web site at gtcdigital.net.
To kick off the night, UF astronomy professors Elizabeth Lada and Rafael Guzman showcased photographs of Galileo's equipment and the extent of today's space exploration. Lada spoke on Galileo's life, discoveries and what scientists expect he saw during his first glance into space.
She said the most important lesson to take from his life's work is the practice of questioning everything.
"For today's science, especially astronomy, it's really only the beginning," she said, "so don't be afraid to make leaps of judgment."
Guzman addressed the abilities of today's telescopes and future advances.
"Unfortunately, we can't travel further than our solar system because we don't have the right equipment yet," he said.
But scientists can at least see those billions of galaxies in the distance, which are clustered together in patterns that resemble a human body's sensory cell pathways, he said.
But even with scientific advancements, mapping out the universe with only the light of the stars as a guide can be inaccurate.
"There might be more than what we see," Guzman said.
