Galileo Galilei observed two children of Saturn
in 1619.
“I have observed the most distant planet
to have a triple form.”
In 1656, Christiaan Huygens explained that Saturn was
surrounded by thin flat disk.
“a thin, flat ring, nowhere touching, and
inclined to the ecliptic.”
Astronomers thought the disk consisted of solid
or liquid rings.
Giovanni Cassini discovered a gap in 1675.
James Clerk Maxwell did the math in 1855
to prove the rings were made of individually orbiting
particles
that he called “brick-bats.”
Rings
Colliding moons,
cataclismic comets,
asteroidal concussions,
intricate and dramatic interweavings
might have spread out Saturn her rings,
and no one was watching.
Orbital resonances
Orbital resonances partly explain gaps
in the rings of Saturn. Moons and moonlets
shepherd the rings
like border collies herding sheep,
like women winding hair about their fingers.
Maxwell has had the final word on the composition of the
rings; however, much fine detail has been discovered and many new
questions raised from information beamed back to Earth by
NASA’s Pioneer, Voyager, and Cassini spacecrafts.
Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan, and Iapetus
are Saturn’s major moons. In addition to these and the
particles and aggregates of the rings, there are fifty-five
smaller moons and over a hundred and fifty moonlets.
Maxwell has had the final word on the composition of the rings; however, much fine detail has been discovered and many new questions raised from information beamed back to Earth by NASA’s Pioneer, Voyager, and Cassini spacecrafts.
Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan, and Iapetus are Saturn’s major moons. In addition to these and the particles and aggregates of the rings, there are fifty-five smaller moons and over a hundred and fifty moonlets.
See also in The book of science:
Readings on wikipedia: