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Galileo's Moon

Name: Galileo's Moon
Brand: The Firmament
SKU: PA-00973

Galileo Galilei, 1610

The FirmamentPA-00973Tear sheet

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No print size passed the check for this piece: at 8 x 10 in, Wrong shape: a 14% crop. We would rather show it than sell a soft print.

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When Galileo turned his new telescope on the Moon in 1609 and drew what he saw, he shattered two thousand years of belief. Here was no perfect, polished celestial sphere, but a world like our own — pitted with craters, ridged with mountains that cast long shadows at the terminator. His modest ink-wash drawings, published in the Starry Messenger, are among the most consequential images ever made: the moment the heavens became a place, and the modern universe began.

Maker: Galileo Galilei
Date: 1610
Medium of the original: Plate
Original held by: Published Venice · Linda Hall Library
Credit: Published Venice · Linda Hall Library
Rights: Public domain, verified
Catalogue number: PA-00973

Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.

How the print check works

Sizes withheld
Size	Why
8 x 10 in	Wrong shape: a 14% crop
8 x 12 in	120 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
11 x 14 in	Wrong shape: a 12% crop
12 x 16 in	83 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
12 x 18 in	80 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
16 x 20 in	Wrong shape: a 14% crop
16 x 24 in	60 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
18 x 24 in	55 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
20 x 30 in	48 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
24 x 30 in	Wrong shape: a 14% crop
24 x 36 in	40 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
30 x 40 in	33 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
36 x 48 in	27 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
40 x 60 in	24 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged