During Galileo's life there was no gray area of wealth like the middle class of today, and therefore you were either rich or poor. In Science and Patronage published by Westfall, the word friend's connotation back then was not one of caring for another person and mutual support but rather defined in a financial type way of using one's connections to better one's self. There was patronage inside of patronage; therefore Galileo did not always see what he claimed to have seen, his associates might have though. Since patronage was the way of the world at this time as Galileo knew it made no sense for someone to swim against the current, for they would simply become tired and unsuccessful. Because of Galileo's position as a patron to the prince, many of his disciples were patrons to Galileo himself thus providing him data and insightful knowledge.

Although Galileo's descriptions of the moon were sometimes very accurate I did not see exactly what he did, which could be a result of the moon's surface changing through time. For instance, the circular orb located near the center of the moon at half moon was not visible to me during my observations. Of the more important facts in Galileo's discourse, I feel that his deduction that the moon is not perfectly spherical and smooth as the Pythagoreans had believed, rather mountainous with many prominence and depressions very much like the textured landscape of earth. Galileo supports these ideas in a logical manner and illustrates them in his observations when the moon is in its different phases. He claims that the dark regions of the moon are shadows cast by the sun. Another detail about the moon that was made more visible to me by the telescope is the circular outline around that moon, even in the dark region, that separates the body of the moon from the ether, which is a term Galileo uses for the rest of the outer space. During this time there was also much debate about the source of the moon's illumination. "Some have said that it is the intrinsic and natural brightness of the moon herself; others that it is imparted to it by Venus, or by all the stars; and yet others have said that it is imparted by the sun who penetrates the Moon's vast mass with his rays". A good point that supports the moon reflects light from the sun is the fact that during an eclipse the moon does not retain its brilliant illumination. Galileo relates this to the way earth has twilight in the morning and evening when the solar rays falling upon the earth illuminate depending upon our proximity. I feel that Galileo appears to be too strong-minded when expressing his ideas as he rejects the idea of the moon being illuminated by light imparted by Venus. Galileo was the pioneer of the idea that light is reflected by all of the heavenly bodies. He proposed that the moon is reflection light to earth, which originates from the sun and we (people on earth) are reflecting that same light towards the moon. "In an equal and grateful exchange the Earth pays back the moon with light equal to that which she receives from the Moon almost all the time in the deepest darkness of the night." (Galileo, p.XX) That would be to say that people on the moon also view the earth as illuminated. I feel that that idea is an important idea which holds true today, that light travels in a straight line from the moon to the earth and vice versa.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2160
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)