Saturn’s rings tilted for optimum viewing

These rings are not continuous sheets, but are actually composed of countless billions of particles which range in size from microscopic specks to boulders the size of houses, each one circling like a moon around Saturn and reflecting sunlight. Most of these are composed of water ice.

Through a good-sized telescope the rings appear as two bright ones with a narrow dark space between them — called the Cassini Division, discovered in 1675 — and the fainter "crape ring" nearer to the ball of the planet, which is not quite so easy to see. These are considered the Main Rings and measure about 170,000 miles across, although over the past 30 years several other much fainter rings have been identified from images taken by the Pioneer 11 and Voyager space probes. These are referred to as the Dusty Rings.

The width of the entire ring system, including gaps, is about 258,500 miles.

Galileo was stumped
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was the first to view the rings in 1610 although what he saw through his crude telescope left him completely baffled, as Saturn appeared to him not to have rings but rather two smaller bodies flanking it on either side.

He couldn't make them out clearly and thought that Saturn was a triple body, with two small orbs on either side of a large one. Later, when the rings turned edgewise to Earth and the two companions disappeared, Galileo invoked an ancient myth when he wrote, "Has Saturn swallowed his children?" Galileo lamented that his mind was too weak to comprehend this strange phenomenon.

Actually, it was his telescope that was too weak; a better telescope would have revealed Saturn's companions as rings.

It was not until a young Dutch mathematician, Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695), utilized a much better telescope, and on March 25, 1655, saw the rings for what they really were.

Slow, but steady
In mythology, Saturn closely resembled the Greek god Cronus, but he's more usually recognized as the Roman god of agriculture. The name is related to both the noun satus (seed corn) and the verb serere (to sow).

But why would the planet Saturn be linked to agriculture? Perhaps a clue can be found from the ancient Assyrians who referred to Saturn as lubadsagush, which translated, meant "oldest of the old sheep." Possibly this name was applied because Saturn seems to move so very slowly among the stars; it may have also reminded sky watchers of the slow gait of plowing oxen or cattle.

So, if we identify Venus by its great brilliance, Mars by its orange-yellow color and Jupiter which is surpassed only by Venus in brightness, then Saturn is recognized by its slow movement among the stars, and easiest of all, if we examine it through a telescope, by its beautiful rings.

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