How Was Saturn Observed – Was It A Lucky Break?

November 9th, 2009

Who discovered Saturn? Did the ancients know this planet or is modern science its first analyst? To be honest, in the old times people were better informed on the movement of the stars than we are today, and the presence of Saturn must have been noticed even with primitive telescopes. In fact, Galileo is widely known as the scientist who discovered Saturn in 1610, as in his descriptions he even wrote a theory about the rings. What he saw resembled some little ears on either side of the planet, and he thought they were globes. Yet, after a while, the white rings were identified and have remained the most spectacular scape in the solar system. Click through here for extra info relating to zodiac sign compatibility .

The analysis of the globes made by Galileo came into discussion because of a confusion he didn’t know how to explain. He was the astronomer who discovered Saturn, but the thing is that he considered to have seen three planets instead of one. The clarification of the rings’ presence was provided in 1655 when Christiaan Huygens made the discovery that what Galileo called globes were actually rings, butnobody could tell what they were made of until some twenty years later Domenico Cassini had a revelation. He was the one to initiate the theory that Saturn’s rings were broken or discontinuous, consisting of small individual parts.

Presently we are aware that the rings are made of ice, rocks and other interplanetary matter, which only proves that the early theories were right. Who discovered Saturn then? In conclusion, we have to admit that the discovery of the solar system has been in progress since we’ve started looking at the stars, and we are far from getting to the bottom. Every year seems to get something new for us to discover: and even if more than forty satellites have been discovered around Saturn, more remain hidden to our eyes for now. Thus the question is not about who discovered Saturn, but what surprises are there in stock for us? You should find more info relating to zodiac sign compatibility here.

The tribute paid to Galileo as the person who discovered Saturn is obvious, but he was not the only one. The probe which captured the first pictures from Saturn was called Cassini after the scientist who revealed and analyzed the pattern of the rings around this planet. Yet, thousands of people unknown to the public are presently involved in space programs; maybe their names are not written in history, but their effort is just as great and important. With every space conquest, there is one other step in the direction of learning more about the universe.

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