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 widely known as the scientist who discovered Saturn in 1610, since in his notes he even wrote a theory about the rings. What he saw resembled some little ears on either side of the planet, and he presumed they were globes. Yet, later on, the white rings were discovered and have remained the most spectacular solar system formation ever since. Click over here for extra information about zodiac dates .

The globe explanation given by Galileo came into discussion because of a confusion he didn’t know how to explain. He was the person 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 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 begin the theory that Saturn’s rings were not solid or unitary but, consisting of fragments of different sizes.

Nowadays we know that the rings consist 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 bring something new for us to explore: thus, more than forty of Saturn’s moons have become known, some of them with potential conditions to sustain life. Thus the question is not about who discovered Saturn, but what is there more to discover? You can obtain complimentary worthwhile information about zodiac dates 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 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. Even so, 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 relevant. With every step we take towards knowing our universe, we claim one more victory in the exploration of the unknown.