Diagram showing the orbiting moons of Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn from Huygens's The Celestial Worlds Discover'd (1722 English edition). As Huygen modestly notes “The outermost but one, and brightest of Saturn's, it chanc'd to be my lot... The rest we may thank the industrious Cassini”.
Featured on PDR in the essay The Uncertain Heavens: Christiaan Huygens’ Ideas of Extraterrestrial Life
During the 17th century, as knowledge of the Universe and its contents increased, so did speculation about life on other planets. One such source, as Hugh Aldersey-Williams explores, was Dutch astronomer, mathematician, and inventor Christiaan Huygens, whose earlier work on probability paved the way for his very modern evaluation of what alien life might look like.
Also appearing in the essay…
Orbiting Moons of Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn
Artist
Date
1722
From
The Celestial Worlds Discover'd
Image Size
1400 x 723