Galileo

YOUR EDITORIAL of Oct. 26 asserts that Galileo was condemned because he refused to ''recant his teachings that the Earth was not at the center of the universe, as the church had taught.''This interpretation distorts the historical record by buying into (whether or not consciously) the modern notion that religion stands as a barrier to science and progress.The conventional interpretation, which parallels the ''Christopher-Columbus-challenging-the-Flat-Earth-Believers''story, is equally dramatic, compelling and historically inaccurate.

PASADENA, Calif. -- In the first penetrating exploration of Jupiter, an instrument-laden capsule from the Galileo spacecraft plunged yesterday into the roiling atmosphere of the largest planet in the solar system and took the measure of its temperatures, density and other-worldly chemistry.Last night, the Galileo spacecraft fired its rocket to slow down and entered a wide-ranging orbit of Jupiter. It is the first spacecraft to orbit one of the giant outer planets for a long-term campaign of photography and detailed observations.

The weather on Jupiter is bad, and it only gets worse the deeper you sink beneath those colorful, swirling cloud tops astronomers have studied for so long.Scientists told the 1996 spring meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Baltimore this week that the Galileo spacecraft's atmospheric probe found winds approaching 500 mph about 100 miles under the visible cloud tops.That's a pitch-dark place beneath a thick overcast of ammonia clouds where the sun's energy doesn't penetrate, they said.

AMERICANS MAY NOT have noticed, but in the past month the yin-yang argument over the direction of U.S. space exploration was played out before them. Amid the quiet debate over whether robotic spacecraft should take precedence over more expensive and dangerous manned space flights, each type of mission had a success.In November, the shuttle Atlantis was docked for eight days to the Russian space station Mir. It was one more experiment toward building a U.S. space station that will give this nation a continuous manned presence in space.

Center Stage has received the rights to produce August Wilson's Tony Award-nominated play "Seven Guitars" and has scheduled performances from April 25 to June 1 in the Pearlstone Theater.The nonprofit professional theater also has finalized plans to present Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" as part of the 1996-1997 season. The play will run Jan. 31 through March 9.Center Stage's six-play season opens Sept. 27 with Bertolt Brecht's "Galileo."A part of historyYou and your family have a chance to become part of a historic Smithsonian exhibit, "The American Family," sponsored by Discover card to celebrate the American family and the Smithsonian Institution's 150th birthday.

WASHINGTON -- John Mankins' government career can be traced through the drawings on his office wall: a rocket whizzing from an Earth-based slingshot into outer space, a glittering moon colony, a giant bug-like contraption fueling a spacecraft in interstellar darkness.Crazy ideas? Not to Mankins. In his job at NASA, he is paid to come up with concepts so far-out they sometimes only get laughed at. Consider him one of NASA's sci-fi guys."I try to be reasonably conservative with my ideas," Mankins says, looking as though he hasjust come through a brainstorm, with his rumpled hair and government ID dangling askew.

January means Galileo Nights at the Maryland Science Center, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Italian scientist's first astronomical experiments with a telescope. Weather permitting, visitors will enjoy views (far better than Galileo's) of Jupiter and its moons. See Earth's own moon with its mountains and craters. Build your own telescope. It's free, from 5:30 to 9 p.m. on Fridays all month. Call after 5 p.m. to check the weather: 410-545-2999.