NASA image


Galileo Galilei was the first to observe the rings of
Saturn when, in 1610, he turned his 20-power tele-
scope toward the planet the Romans had named
Saturnus, after the god of agriculture

Galileo assumed that the rings were "handles" or
large moons positioned on either side of the planet

He wrote,

"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".
- NASA

today, we know that the rings are not any of the
more than 60 moons that orbit the planet -

but what are they?

from the data gathered by Pioneer 11, Voyager 1,
Voyager 2 and Cassini–Huygens we now understand
the following -

- the rings are 173,000 miles in diameter, with a
thickness of less than 70 feet

- they consist of billions of pulverized particles that
range in size from specks smaller than a grain of
sand to boulders larger than a house

- the particles are comprised mainly of water ice

- they race around the planet, colliding into one
another in a cosmic roller derby

- and they move at speeds that range from 20,000 to
40,000 mph; that's somewhere between 25 and 50
times faster than the speed of sound

for more on the rings, from the men and women
who study them, check out the video below



the above video is a brief excerpt of the History
Channel's The Universe