Giorgione's discovery of Jupiter's four largest moons 105 years before Galileo Galilei

Abstract

In his 1508/09 painting "The three philosophers", Giorgio di Castelfranco (alias Giorgione) portrayed next to others Aristarchus of Samos, a great astronomer of his time. Almost as an aside, Giorgione’s painting captured a revolutionary discovery, which is shown on the document Aristarchus holds in front of his chest: the observation of Jupiter’s four largest moons, one hundred years before Galileo Galilei. (This paper is an extract from the enquiry "Giorgiones Entdeckung der vier großen Jupitermonde 105 Jahre vor Galileo Galilei" by the author, published at Ulm in 2005 via: http://vts.uni-ulm.de/doc.asp?id=5401).