An extraordinary poem by Lady Hester Pulteney: in 1648, in bed after giving birth to her 15th child, she let her mind take flight on a journey through the solar system.
Her work was discovered by chance in 1996. 🧪 #WomenInSTEM
Her work was discovered by chance in 1996. 🧪 #WomenInSTEM
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She also refers to Saturn's "two sickly Cynthias"; Galileo thought Saturn's rings were moons ("Cynthia" was a classical name for Earth's moon) or some sort of sickle-shaped structures.
However, these lines are telling (in image).
This was ~7 years before Huygens described Saturn's ring system, clearing the mystery of what it was beside Saturn, seen poorly in early telescopes.
1) Saturn's symbol was a sickle.
2) the sickle-shaped appearance of its "companions".
3) their relative "sickly" dimness.
Wife's 1st hubby was no. 17 that survived, I think. She wanted 21 but didn't survive the 19th.