How Was Saturn Discovered – Was It A Lucky Break?

October 29, 2009 by Admin Leave a reply »

Who discovered Saturn? Did the ancients know this planet or is modern science its first analyst? 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 widely known as the scientist who discovered Saturn in 1610, since in his notes he even wrote a theory about the rings. According to his words, there were some little ears on either side of the planet, and he presumed they were globes. Yet, after a while, the white rings were identified and have hold their position as the most spectacular scape in the solar system. Click over here for additional info about astrology horoscope .

The analysis of the globes given by Galileo started from a confusion he didn’t know how to understand. He was the astronomer who discovered Saturn, but at the same time he thought there were three planets, not one. The mystery of the rings was clarified in 1655 when Christiaan Huygens realized that what Galileo referred to as 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 fragments of different sizes.

Presently we know that the rings are made of ice, rocks and other interplanetary debris, 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 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 complimentary invaluable info about astrology horoscope here.

The tribute paid to Galileo as the person who discovered Saturn is obvious, but he was not the only one. The spacecraft which captured the the close image of Saturn for the first time was called Cassini after the scientist who understood and theorized the pattern 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 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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