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Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun, was known to ancient civilizations long before telescopes were invented. However, its more detailed discovery began in 1610 when Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei first observed Saturn through his telescope. He noticed strange shapes on either side of the planet but couldn’t identify them as rings due to the limitations of his telescope. In 1655, Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch astronomer, using a more powerful telescope, correctly identified these shapes as rings surrounding the planet.

Further discoveries followed in the centuries to come. Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, was also discovered by Huygens in 1655. Later, in the 19th century, William Herschel discovered several more moons of Saturn. In 1979, the Pioneer 11 spacecraft provided the first close-up images of Saturn, revealing details about its rings and magnetic field. The Voyager 1 and 2 missions in the early 1980s added to our knowledge, showing that Saturn’s rings were more complex than previously thought.

In 2004, NASA’s Cassini-Huygens mission began a detailed exploration of Saturn, its rings, and moons, making groundbreaking discoveries such as the water-ice plumes on the moon Enceladus. These discoveries have deepened our understanding of Saturn, revealing it to be a dynamic and intriguing planet.