Did Galileos discovery of Jupiters moons/sunspots/phases of Venus immediately convince people about the truth of the heliocentric theory of Copernicus?
No. Galileo tells us that evenbefore his telescopic discoveries he had already concluded that the Copernican theory (of a heliocentric solar system in which Earth is just one of the planets) was preferable to the ancient Aristotelian-Ptolemaic system (with the Earth stationary at the center of the cosmos and everything else circling around it.) But in his Copernican conviction, Galileo was very unusual. With absolutely no evidence for its truth, the Copernican theory was favored mostly by those who appreciated its mathematical harmonies or its calculational advantages. The vast majority of astronomers preferred to stick with the ancient geocentric models, not only owing to force of tradition, but also because they could not imagine the Earth sailing through space with three distinct motions, none of which we could feel at all, all the while keeping the Moon in tow as well. When Galileo showed that Jupiter has moons, he showed that the Earth was not the only center of motion. And the ph
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