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| | SparkNotes: Galileo Galilei: The Starry Messenger |
 | | Then, in December of the same year, he found that Venus, like the moon, went through phases; this provided key evidence for the Copernican system, since it suggested the Venus orbited the sun just as the moon orbited the earth. |
 | | In April of 1611, Galileo announced the existence of sunspots, confirming the observations of a German astronomer, Johannes Fabricius, and then, by charting them over a period of months, he concluded that the sun actually rotated. |
 | | As "fact," it would challenge scripture, which referred to the sun "rising" and the earth as "unmoving"–and besides, from their point of view, there was insufficient evidence to consider the theory proven. |
| www.sparknotes.com /biography/galileo/section5.rhtml (885 words) |
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