Eyes on the Skies

The invention of the telescope has been by far the most revolutionary development in the history of astronomy. For thousands of years, astronomers had to rely on their eyes in unraveling the mysteries of the Universe. Then, 400 years ago, something entirely new happened: Galileo turned a homemade arrangement of magnifying glasses to the skies. The telescope revealed a wealth of astronomical riches, and led to a dramatic increase of knowledge about the wider world we live in. In 2009, the International Year of Astronomy, we are celebrating Galileo's legacy and all the discoveries that have taken place in the intervening years, as well as the explosion of knowledge that we are witnessing now, made possible by new technologies. This movie explores the saga of the telescope over 400 years - the historical development, the scientific importance, the technological breakthroughs, and also the people behind this ground-breaking invention, their triumphs and failures.