Galileo Beholds Saturn

Anyone who has ever seen Saturn with a good telescope knows that it is one of the most beautiful celestial objects. A perfect sphere hovering inside multicolored rings! Spectacular! Yet when Galileo got a glimpse of the planet, he was utterly confused. He understood planets and moons, but rings? He had the language to describe what he saw (and we know what he saw because he made the drawings you see below), and yet he couldn't fathom something so strange. He thought the rings must be moons traveling at great velocities. (And remember, his telescope was anything but primitive).