Saturn's ring and Titan
Anillo de Saturno y su luna Titán
- Date
- 1655-1659 · confidence high
- Place
- The Hague, Netherlands
- Credited to
- Christiaan Huygens
- People
- 👤 Christiaan Huygens1629–1695
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Huygens discovered Titan (1655) and explained Saturn's strange 'handles' as a thin, flat ring that does not touch the planet (Systema Saturnium, 1659).
Galileo had seen the 'handles' in 1610 without interpreting them; Cassini found the gap in the ring in 1675.
What it led to
- Study of ring structure (Cassini, Maxwell)
- Titan as an astrobiological target (Cassini-Huygens)