Who discovered Saturn? Was this planet known to the ancients or is it modern science that brought it to our attention? The truth is that in the antiquity people had a far better knowledge of the sky map than we have today, and it is possible that they were familiar with Saturn by means of primitive telescopes. In fact, Galileo is recognized as the scientist who discovered Saturn in 1610, as in his descriptions he even gave an explanation for the rings. What he saw resembled some little ears on either side of the planet, and he thought they were globes. Yet, later on, the white rings were identified and have remained the most spectacular solar system formation ever since. Click over here for extra info on zodiac compatability .
The globe explanation given by Galileo started from a confusion he didn’t know how to explain. He was the astronomer who discovered Saturn, but at the same time he thought there were three planets, not one. The clarification of the rings’ presence was provided in 1655 when Christiaan Huygens realized 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 create the theory that Saturn’s rings were broken or discontinuous, consisting of fragments of different sizes.
Nowadays we know 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? A fair conclusion is that this part of our solar system gradually revealed itself to our eyes, but the discovery is not by far complete. Every year seems to get something new for us to explore: 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 extra info on zodiac compatability here.
The tribute paid to Galileo as the person who discovered Saturn is obvious, but he was not the only one. The spacecraft which sent the first pictures from Saturn was called Cassini after the astronomer who understood and theorized the structure of the rings around this planet. Yet, there are many other people who are currently taking part to space exploration projects; maybe their names are not written in history, but their contribution is just as great and relevant. With every space conquest, there is one other step in the direction of learning more about the universe.
