Happy Birthday to Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Born June 8, 1625

Cassini, namesake of the Cassini Orbiter, discovered four moons of Saturn and the large gap in Saturn's rings, now called the Cassini division. He also was the first director of the Paris Observatory, measured the sun's apparent motion through the sky, and even approximated the distance from the Earth to the Sun. In addition, he used the shadows of Jupiter's moons and shadows on Jupiter's surface to determine the length of Jupiter's day, and he is also credited with discovering Jupiter's Great Red Spot!