the flame from a lamp pans across the field of view and dissolves to a candle flame burning above the workshop table of galileo galilei in italy around the year 1610. we move into a courtyard where galileo is observing with his telescope. on an easel lit by a lantern we see his sketches of the moons of jupiter and the phases of venus. these drawings also morph into 3d objects to demonstrate how galileo's observations transformed our perception of the planets and helped establish the copernican model of the solar system.