Who discovered the rings of saturn?

Question

Who discovered the rings of saturn?

Answer 1

Galileo was the first person to observe them - but he had no idea what they were. He certainly didn't know it was rings.

Huygens was the first person to suggest rings, but for a long time it was assumed that they were solid.

At that time it was considered a single Ring.

Cassini discovered the division (named after him) and so them there were two rings.

We have since discovered more rings. The F ring, for instance, wasn;t discovered until Voyager in 1979!

So take you pick as to who discovered rings - I would argue Cassini, because before him there was only one ring.

Answer 2

The rings were first observed by Galileo Galilei in 1610 with his telescope, but he was unable to identify them as such. He wrote to the Duke of Tuscany that "The planet Saturn is not alone, but is composed of three, which almost touch one another and never move nor change with respect to one another. They are arranged in a line parallel to the zodiac, and the middle one (Saturn itself) is about three times the size of the lateral ones [the edges of the rings]." He also described Saturn as having "ears." In 1612 the plane of the rings was oriented directly at the Earth and the rings appeared to vanish. Mystified, Galileo wondered, "Has Saturn swallowed his children?", referring to the myth of the god Saturn eating his own children to prevent them from overthrowing him. Then, in 1613, they reappeared again, further confusing Galileo.

In 1655, Christiaan Huygens became the first person to suggest that Saturn was surrounded by a ring. Using a telescope that was far superior to those available to Galileo, Huygens observed Saturn and wrote that "It [Saturn] is surrounded by a thin, flat, ring, nowhere touching, inclined to the ecliptic."

In 1675, Giovanni Domenico Cassini determined that Saturn's ring was composed of multiple smaller rings with gaps between them; the largest of these gaps was later named the Cassini Division. This division in itself is a 4,800 km wide region between the A Ring and B Ring.

In 1787, Pierre Simon Laplace suggested that the rings were composed of a large number of solid ringlets.

In 1859, James Clerk Maxwell demonstrated that the rings could not be solid or they would become unstable and break apart. He proposed that the rings must be composed of numerous small particles, all independently orbiting Saturn.

Maxwell's theory was proven correct in 1895 through spectroscopic studies of the rings carried out by James Keeler of l**k Observatory.

Answer 3

Galileo in 1610

Answer 4

In 1610 Galileo Galilei turned his primitive telescope to the heavens and was astonished to observe a bright star flanked by two dimmer ones. What Galileo had discovered was a strange new world, a planet that was to become one of the wonders of the solar system, and to be named Saturn. Saturn's beauty comes from its magnificent rings that Galileo described as "handles" or large moons on either side of the planet. He said, "I have observed the highest planet [Saturn] to be tripled-bodied. This is to say that to my very great amazement Saturn was seen to me to be not a single star, but three together, which almost touch each other". Two years later Galileo was puzzled to discovered the rings had disappeared. What Galileo did not know was that the Earth had passed through Saturn's ring plane and the rings were edge on and could not be resolved with his 20x telescope. Galileo's discovery of Saturn commenced the scientific process of unraveling the mysteries of Saturn's extensive ring system, but even after 400 years the mysteries have not been all solved.  

Answer 5

Galelio Galelei discovered the rings of Saturn in 1610.

Here are some information about the rings of Saturn on the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Sa...

Answer 6

Galileoo in 1610

Answer 7

some guy named saturn??

Answer 8

It was Galelio Galelei, who in 1610 discovered the rings around the planet saturn. He used the telescope invented by him first to discover that saturn has rings around it, though he couldn't properly figure out what the rings were exactly made up of. This was because the telescope he made had a poor resolution.

Answer 9

GALELIO GALELEI

Answer 10

It was the Italian astronomer Galilleo, 2 discover the rings of Saturn with his Gallean telescope, which was the first telescope. The rings seemed 2 b Saturn's ears 2 Galilleo