Austria 2009 €25 Year Of Astronomy Silver Niobium Galileo Coin

2009 has been designated "The International Year of Astronomy." To honour this title the Austrian Mint in Vienna has chosen to dedicate its silver-niobium coin this year to this fascinating theme.

The new coin, which goes on sale on 11th March, 2009, displays a three-quarter portrait of the famous mathematician and astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) and his telescope with which he observed the surface of the moon just four hundred years ago in 1609.

In the background his drawing of the moon surface is reproduced, while the silver ring spans the development of the telescope from Newton’s telescope through the observatory in Kremsmünster (Upper Austria) to radio telescopes and those launched into space – a far cry from Galileo’s first views of the moon. Read the rest of this entry »