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Poet described stars in Milky Way before Galileo

Nature volume 428, page 601 (2004)Cite this article

Sir

It is commonly accepted that Galileo in 1609 was the first to appreciate the discrete nature of the stars in the Milky Way, by training his telescope on that part of the heavens. Your review of Francesco Bertola's book Via Lactea (Nature 427, 489; 200310.1038/427489b) notes Bertola's suggestion that the true nature of the Milky Way may have been known before Galileo's observation.

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  1. Mount Sinai School of Medicine, 1425 Madison Avenue, Box 1240, New York, 10029, New York, USA

    Eric Lewin Altschuler

  2. Mount Sinai School of Medicine, 2611 18th Ave (G), Forest Grove, 97116, Oregon, USA

    William Jansen

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  1. Eric Lewin Altschuler
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  2. William Jansen
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Altschuler, E., Jansen, W. Poet described stars in Milky Way before Galileo. Nature 428, 601 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/428601d

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