Building a better refractor The spyglass-turned-telescope had limitations, some of which Galileo was able to design around. To reduce distortions such as elongations and blurriness caused by the ...

After replicating Lippershey's "looker," Galileo set about improving the design. He built increasingly powerful telescopes, ultimately building devices capable of magnifying the cosmos to 30 times ...

Matt Rourke / AP Images Galileo improved upon the original telescope design. His telescopes magnified images by 8 to 30 times. Granger Collection, New York Some scholars were disturbed by Galileo ...