wonderful universe
Revealing Saturn ’ s beauty
Decades of imagery capture our fascination with the ringed planet
By MARCELO DE OLIVEIRA SOUZA
Sky ’ s Up Editor
Once humanity was able to rely on instruments to look further into the sky , one of the most wonderful images observed is the planet Saturn with its rings . It is the second largest planet in the solar system , a gas giant composed mostly of hydrogen and helium . Its beautiful rings were first observed in 1659 by Christiaan Huygens . Saturn has 82 known natural satellites ( data from July 2021 ). The moons Titan and Enceladus , due to their particularities , attract enormous attention from researchers . They are potential targets for possible future exploration missions in search of the existence of extraterrestrial life . The first photographs of the planet Saturn were only taken in the 19th century . On March 27 and 29 , 1857 , Warren de la Rue made a drawing of Saturn , as seen with a Newtonian Equatorial of thirteen inches aperture ( Figure 1 ). In 1857 Warren de la Rue obtained images of Saturn using the same telescope . Unfortunately , the planet image measured only 1 / 2 mm on the plate .
Figure 3 – Image of
Saturn taken by Edward Emerson Barnard in
1911
COURTESY OF University of Cambridge , Institute of Astronomy Library
Above , Figure 1 - Engraving by S . Russell of a drawing by Warren De la Rue of Saturn , also showing moons Tethys and Enceladus ; Below , Figure 2 – First picture of Saturn taken by Pierre Paul Henry & Mathieu Prosper Henry in 1885 / 1886
The first astrophotography of Saturn was only successfully obtained in 1885 / 1886 by the brothers Pierre Paul Henry and Mathieu Prosper Henry using the Paris observatory 33 cm refractor ( Figure 2 ). In 1911 Edward Emerson Barnard ( known as E . E . Barnard ) obtained images of Saturn using the 1.52 m Mount Wilson reflector ( Figure 3 ). Today with the new technological resources astronomers and amateur
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