Early discovery of Neptune

[neopeius]

This will probably drop like a lead balloon, but what if Galileo had recognized his discovery of Neptune? He did notice it during a chance conjunction with Jupiter, and he even commented that it had moved between observations. He may even have noticed the color--Neptune looks very blue through even a weak telescope.

What would be the impact of discovering an invisible planet in the early 17th century? I imagine Uranus would be discovered a lot earlier (many had seen it, but they hadn't recognized it for what it is). But there must be more profound follow-on effects.

Thoughts?

 

[Cook]

wrong area. pre-1900, not post.

That said, he got into enough trouble with the Church for inventing moons, let alone inventing another planet!

 

[Color-Copycat]

What would they name it?

 

[The Ubbergeek]

wrong area. pre-1900, not post.

That said, he got into enough trouble with the Church for inventing moons, let alone inventing another planet!

Nothing to do even with discovery stuff. Or EVEN heliocentrism.

THE REAL DEAL was with arrogantly mocking clerical authority, the church and all. The fact is, his theories were not really as controversial - it was simply the attitude. Had he paid homage to the clerical lords and all or something, nothing much would have happened.

The middle age was not that dark...

 

[neopeius]

Whoops... how do I get this moved?

 

[e of pi]

PM a mod about it.

 

[Polish Eagle]

Nothing to do even with discovery stuff. Or EVEN heliocentrism.

THE REAL DEAL was with arrogantly mocking clerical authority, the church and all. The fact is, his theories were not really as controversial - it was simply the attitude. Had he paid homage to the clerical lords and all or something, nothing much would have happened.

The middle age was not that dark...

Not even that. He really got in trouble when he questioned whether the Host turns into the Body of Christ. As an astronomy professor at Columbia University said of heliocentrism, "It was greeted with a collective shrug of the shoulders by the European intellectual community at the time."

Anyway, if it's discovered, it's not definitive proof of heliocentrism. It'll have roughly the same scientific impact as the discovery of the Galilean Moons. Maybe Tycho Brache or Cassini will focus some observation effort on it.

 

[Workable Goblin]

wrong area. pre-1900, not post.

That said, he got into enough trouble with the Church for inventing moons, let alone inventing another planet!

Pretty much what Ubbergeek and Polish Eagle said. Galileo's crime was being an ass of the first magnitude, not discovering the moons of Jupiter, sunspots, the craters of the Moon, etc. Those were okay, and in any event I (personally) would rate Kepler's contemporary development of elliptical orbits to be more important in proving heliocentricity.

Anyways, if Neptune is proved? That might have bigger impacts than you think. Neptune being discovered was (rightly or wrongly) seen as a big validation of Newtonian theory, which this strips away (OTOH, perhaps Uranus ends up getting discovered as a perturbation to Saturn and Neptune's orbits). If you believe an article in this month's Physics Today, then the discovery of Neptune was an important factor in getting US scientists, particularly mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers, recognition on the world stage. The details aren't particularly important, but having the discovery of Neptune be much earlier might (assuming, of course, that the resulting butterflies aren't so big that American independence doesn't happen in anything like it's OTL form) well have some negative impact on American science down the line, in terms of how much serious attention is paid to it by Europeans.