From the February 2010 issue

When did observers determine that “wandering stars” were not stars at all, but rather planets?

Lyle Schroeder, Milwaukee
By | Published: February 22, 2010 | Last updated on May 18, 2023

wandering objects
Wandering, planet-sized objects.
NASA-JPL

When Galileo and others turned early telescopes on these wandering objects starting in 1610, they weren’t sure what they saw. The fixed stars appeared as points of light while the planets were visible as disks.