Ocho blog by @diegocando8

The earth is rounded!

400 years ago, Italian astronomer, physicist, and scientist Galileo Galilei went to jail for telling the truth, the earth is rounded!

Today virtually every child grows up learning that the earth orbits the sun, but four centuries ago, the idea of a heliocentric solar system was so controversial that the Catholic Church classified it as a heresy and warned the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei to abandon it.

Galileo observed by telescope that the planets were round a finding that was still considered new and controversial at the time despite the previous circumnavigation of our globe. Galileo also hypothesized that the Earth rotated around the sun a view that went beyond controversy but was considered blasphemy by the Roman Catholic Church, as it explicitly contradicted the Holy Scriptures. Galileo was tried by the Roman Inquisition in 1615, convicted of heresy, and was forced to recant his views, and placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life.

Today, scientists use geodesy, which is the science of measuring Earth’s shape, gravity, and rotation. Geodesy provides accurate measurements that show Earth is round. The National Geodetic Survey measures and monitors our ever-changing planet. 

Galileo was right, NASA has stated even though our planet is a sphere, it is not a perfect sphere. Because of the force caused when Earth rotates, the North and South Poles are slightly flat. Earth’s rotation, wobbly motion, and other forces are making the planet change shape very slowly, but it is still round.