Solar system · Planet
Planet
Saturn
The ringed planet — the most distant one known to the ancients, and the most beautiful sight in a small telescope.
Discovery
Galileo saw “ears” on it in 1610; Christiaan Huygens worked out in 1655 that they were a ring. The rings are ice, most pieces the size of pebbles to houses.
Did you know
Every 13 to 16 years the rings turn edge-on to Earth and seem to vanish for a while — most recently in 2025.