When were Saturn's rings discovered?

Answer 1

Saturn is one of the planets that can be seen with the naked eye and reference has been made to it for thousands of years. No one knows who first recognized Saturn as something other than a star, or when that was

What is known is that Galileo Galilei was the first to observe the planet through a telescope in 1610.

Answer 2

Titan, the largest, was discovered in 1655 by Christiaan Huygens.

Tethys, Dione, Rhea and Iapetus (1672) by Giovanni Cassini.

Mimas and Enceladus (1789) by William Herschel.

Hyperion (1848) by WC Bond, GP Bond and William Lassell.

Phoebe (1899) by WH Pickering.

Janus (1966) by Audouin Dollfus.

Epimetheus (hypothesized about the same time, and sighted later).

Helene, Telesto and Calypso (1980) by the Voyager probes.

Atlas, Prometheus and Pandora (1981) by Voyager spacecraft.

Pan (1990) from Voyager photos.

Methone, Pallene and Polydeuces (2004) by the Cassini mission.

Daphnis (2005) by Cassini scientists.

Anthe (2007) by Cassini scientists.

Aegaeon (March 2009) by Cassini scientists.

S/2009 S 1 (July 2009) by Cassini scientists.

As telescopes have improved, more and more outer moons have been discovered. From 2000 onwards, more than thirty irregular outer moons have been found, as well as twelve small outer moons in 2005. Nine more irregular outer moons were announced in 2006.

Saturn's rings require at least a 150 mm diameter telescope lens to resolve and thus were not known to exist until Galileo first saw them in 1610. He thought of them as two moons on Saturn's sides. It was not until Christian Huygens used greater telescopic magnification that this notion was refuted. Huygens also discovered Saturn's moon Titan. Some time later, Giovanni DomenicoCassini discovered four other moons: Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys, and Dione; and in 1675 also discovered the gap in the rings now known as the Cassini Division.

Answer 3

Saturn was discovered in ancient times, it can be seen with the eye from earth without any equipment.

Answer 4

Saturn was never "discovered". It has been visible in the night sky since the earliest humans looked up into the night sky and wondered what that white dot was.

Answer 5

As of June 2014, Saturn has 62 moons. The earliest were discovered by Giovanni Domenico Cassini in 1671. The most recent was discovered in 2009.

Answer 6

Saturn is visible to the naked eye and so was known to prehistoric people. It is, therefore, not known who discovered it, nor when.

Answer 7

1610