Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope Spencer Jones, was active in an international project for determining the solar parallax through observations of the minor planet Eros. In the second half of the twentieth century Alan Cousins set up very precise southern standards for UBV and introduced a widely used system of VRI photometry that enjoyed international recognition for precision. In 1977 the occultation of the star SAO 158687 was observed by Joseph Churms from the former Royal Observatory and these observations provided needed confirmation of the Uranian rings discovered from the Kuiper aeroplane by Elliot et al. During the 19th century the Observatory was regarded as
Rings of Saturn G ring. Voyager 2's closest approach occurred in August 1981 at a distance of 41,000 km. Voyager 2's working photopolarimeter allowed it to observe the ring system at higher resolution than Voyager 1, and to thereby discover many previously unseen ringlets. "Cassini" spacecraft entered into orbit around Saturn in July 2004. "Cassini" images of the rings are the most detailed to-date, and are responsible for the discovery of yet more ringlets. The rings are named alphabetically in the order they were discovered. The main rings are, working outward from the planet, C, B and A, with the Cassini Division, the