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with the earth, and the ring disappeared
(December 4th, 1612). It was not until 1656
that Huyghens, in his small pamphlet De
Saturni Luna Observatio Nova , was able
to suggest in a cypher the ring form; and
in 1659, in his Systema Saturnium, he gave
his reasons and translated the cypher: ”The
planet is surrounded by a slender flat ring,
everywhere distinct from its surface, and
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