Plot Summary:The invention of the telescope has been by far the most revolutionary development in the history of astronomy. For thousands of years, astronomers had to rely on their eyes in unraveling the mysteries of the Universe. Then, 400 years ago, something entirely new happened: Galileo turned a homemade arrangement of magnifying glasses to the skies. The telescope revealed a wealth of astronomical riches, and led to a dramatic increase of knowledge about the wider world we live in. In 2009, the International Year of Astronomy, we are celebrating Galileo's legacy and all the discoveries that have taken place in the intervening years, as well as the explosion of knowledge that we are witnessing now, made possible by new technologies. This movie explores the saga of the telescope over 400 years - the historical development, the scientific importance, the technological breakthroughs, and also the people behind this ground-breaking invention, their triumphs and failures.
本片是国际天文年官方影片,國際天文協會為慶祝望遠鏡發明400年,以 1609年望远镜第一次用于天文观测为引子,介绍了人们观测星空的种种手段,以及当今的先进观测技术。是一部探索望遠鏡諸多層面的影片——包含其發展史、科學重要性、技術的突破,還有這項開創性發明幕後的相關人士-其功績與失敗。本片是由歐南天文臺的專業天文學者Joe Liske博士與Lars Lindberg Christensen博士擔綱製作與演出(JoeLiske博士同時也是哈柏太空望遠鏡線上影音廣播影片節目『Hubblecast』的主持人)。