TitanIn 1655, Christiaan Huygens (1629-95) discovered Titan, Saturn's largest satellite and the easiest to observe. He determined its period of revolution. (However, the moon wasn't named until almost two centuries later when Sir John Herschel, discoverer of Uranus, assigned names to the seven moons of Saturn that were known at that time. Saturn's largest moon was named simply “Titan,” since the word means “one that is great in size, importance, or achievement.”) Huygens also discovered the rings of Saturn through a telescope of his own design. (In his lifetime he also invented the pendulum clock and the first accurate time-keeping device, his contributions to mathematics, astronomy, time measurement and the theory of light are considered fundamental).[Image: Titan imaged by NASA space probe Cassini on 26 Oct 2004.] |
