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Description
The four Galilean moons of Jupiter were the first objects discovered orbiting another planet. However in the 1600's the most widely adopted model of the universe in the Holy Roman Empire, under which Galileo lived, was geocentrism, or the doctrine that the whole universe revolved around the earth. Galileo used the discovery of these moons to support a theory of heliocentrism, which postulated that all the planets in the solar system, including the earth, orbited the sun. Galileo's ideas came under scrutiny from most of his intellectual and religious peers at the time, and an Inquisition was held which forced him to publicly silence his ideas that conflicted with the church's line, finding him "vehemently suspect of heresy", and placing him under house arrest for the remainder of his life.

From left to right: Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto

Description
The four Galilean moons of Jupiter were the first objects discovered orbiting another planet. However in the 1600's the most widely adopted model of the universe in the Holy Roman Empire, under which Galileo lived, was geocentrism, or the doctrine that the whole universe revolved around the earth. Galileo used the discovery of these moons to support a theory of heliocentrism, which postulated that all the planets in the solar system, including the earth, orbited the sun. Galileo's ideas came under scrutiny from most of his intellectual and religious peers at the time, and an Inquisition was held which forced him to publicly silence his ideas that conflicted with the church's line, finding him "vehemently suspect of heresy", and placing him under house arrest for the remainder of his life.

From left to right: Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto