Interesting that bit about Galileo and Saturn's rings.


Bourbon is one of France's royal families. So one more question about the Bourbon stars:

Were they named by a frenchman?

EDIT:
I think I finally got it. All the clues are right here in this page.

The Bourbon stars were misidentified SUNSPOTS!

IIRC there was this french guy who learned about sunspots from Galileo. Later he claimed to have found new planets (?) which in reality were sunspots. He named those imaginary planets Bourbon stars to please his king. But I can't remember his name...
I'd be very interested to learn the whole story about this affair. Any books or links on subject?