Air Date: August 10, 2009

Adam Fuller

What happened to Saturn's rings?

400 years ago Galileo turned his telescope towards Saturn and saw what he thought were three separate round bodies. For the next 50 years astronomers hotly debated the true nature of Saturn. Then, in 1659, Christiaan Huygens radically changed the debate with his book, System Saturnium. In it he provided the correct explanation of Saturn’s companions: that they were actually part of a large ring wrapping around the planet. In this podcast we’ll delve into the history of this groundbreaking insight and explain why Saturn is ringless tonight.

Adam Fuller is currently a graduate student at the University of Something. He graduated from Columbia University with a B.S. in Astrophysics. He also has a B.A. in Journalism from North Carolina (Go Heels!). His research interests include planetary science, meteorology, and astrobiology. Outside of school, he is an avid marathoner, a failed comedian, and a dedicated uncle to three proto-astrophysicists.