How did ancient people know Saturn had rings?

No one knew that Saturn had rings until the 1600’s. Galileo discovered them with his telescope in 1610, but he did not know what these were either. Thus they remained a mystery until 1655 when the astronomer Christian Huygen figured out that they were planetary rings.

Who discovered the hexagon on Saturn?

Cassini-Huygens
It rotates with a period of 10h 39m 24s, the same period as Saturn’s radio emissions from its interior. The hexagon does not shift in longitude like other clouds in the visible atmosphere. Saturn’s hexagon was discovered during the Voyager mission in 1981, and was later revisited by Cassini-Huygens in 2006.

Who discovered the shape of Saturn’s rings?

Galileo
In 1610, Galileo observed the peculiar appearance of Saturn, but was not able to recognize the true shape of the features on either side of the planet. It was not until almost 50 years later that the astronomer Christian Huygens discovered that the shapes were really rings.

Why does Saturn have a hexagon?

The smaller storms interact with the larger system and as a result effectively pinch the eastern jet and confine it to the top of the planet. The pinching process warps the stream into a hexagon. The model the researchers created suggests the storm is thousands of kilometers deep, well beneath Saturn’s cloud tops.

Did Galileo see Saturn’s rings?

When Galileo Galilei first observed Saturn in 1610, he thought that the rings were enormous moons, one positioned on each side of the planet. Over several years of observations, he noted that the rings changed shape and even disappeared, as they changed their inclination with respect to Earth.

Can you land on Saturn?

As a gas giant, Saturn doesn’t have a true surface. While a spacecraft would have nowhere to land on Saturn, it wouldn’t be able to fly through unscathed either. The extreme pressures and temperatures deep inside the planet would crush, melt, and vaporize any spacecraft trying to fly into the planet.

Is Saturn made of rock or gas?

Saturn is a gas-giant planet and therefore does not have a solid surface like Earth’s. But it might have a solid core somewhere in there.

Can Saturn be seen from Earth?

Saturn. Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun, and the second largest, after Jupiter. It is one of the five planets visible from Earth using only the naked-eye (the others are Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter).