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400 Years Ago, Galileo's Sun Science Was Banned | GIF Six-Pack

Here come the sun GIFs, commemorating Galileo's commitment to finding out the truth about it.

It's February 26, 1616; You're legendary mathematician and astronomer Galileo Galilei, and today isn't a good day. The Catholic Church has just formally banned you from teaching about the biggest discovery of your life: the validation of Copernican theory that the Earth orbits the sun. His views on heliocentrism eventually earned him two convictions of heresy, threats of torture, and the final years of his life under house arrest.

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It's 400 years ago to the day that Galileo's conflict began. Here are six GIFs capturing the power of the sun and the wonder of the solar system that he fought for more perfect knowledge of. Hateplow, 3000FPS, Jellygummies, and more have created artwork based on the same desire Galileo had to contemplate the biggest and baddest of (nearby) heavenly bodies.

BONUS: The Church's reaction when Galileo turned out to be right.

See more sun GIFs on GIPHY.

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