Saturn has fascinated people for hundreds of years. In
1610, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei discovered Saturn.
He was able to see the planet and its rings through a
telescope. But he thought he was seeing a planet and
two moons that were too close to each other to tell them
apart. Later, the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens
used a stronger
telescope. He saw
that Saturn was
one planet with
rings. Huygens also
saw Titan.
Chapter 3
LONG LOOKS
AND FAST FLYBYS
This illustration shows
Galileo peering through a
telescope around 1620.
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