I don't interpret the original blog post as implying that Galileo confused Jupiter & Saturn - it sounds like a misinterpretation of mildly ambiguous writing.
We need to remember that Galileo was looking at these systems through 17th century optics, using a likely homebrew mount of the same vintage. As an amateur astrophotographer, I marvel that he was able to make such detailed observations at all. He was able to figure out Jupiter's moons "easily enough" (major hand waving at what a step forward that was), but looking at Saturn, something just weird ... (read more)
I don't interpret the original blog post as implying that Galileo confused Jupiter & Saturn - it sounds like a misinterpretation of mildly ambiguous writing.
We need to remember that Galileo was looking at these systems through 17th century optics, using a likely homebrew mount of the same vintage. As an amateur astrophotographer, I marvel that he was able to make such detailed observations at all. He was able to figure out Jupiter's moons "easily enough" (major hand waving at what a step forward that was), but looking at Saturn, something just weird ... (read more)