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Who first observed Saturn through a telescope?
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Saturn
Saturn and its spectacular rings, in a natural-color composite of 126 images taken by the Cassini spacecraft on October 6, 2004. The view is directed toward Saturn's southern hemisphere, which is tipped toward the Sun. Shadows cast by the rings are visible against the bluish northern hemisphere, while the planet's shadow is projected on the rings to the left.
Galileo Galilei was the first to observe Saturn through a telescope, beginning his observations in 1610.1
Upon viewing the planet, he reported that it appeared to be a composite of three objectsāa large central body with two smaller lateral onesārather than a single star. He did not realize at the time that these lateral appendages were actually part of a disk encircling the planet. Two years later, when Earth crossed Saturn's ring plane, the rings appeared edge-on and seemed to disappear, which further perplexed him.1