UPDATE:  SOLVED at 12:29 CDT by Roger

Ah, Saturday.  Named for Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture.  Dies Saturni became the Old English Saeternesdaeg, which became Saturday; the only day of the week where the English name comes from Roman mythology.

No, that’s not a clue for your riddle today… but it does give me some interesting ideas.  The riddles will be getting progressively tougher now, leading up to the bonus riddle.  Are you ready to play?  Got those neurons fired up and ready to go?  Grab a cup of coffee, and good luck:

Serpens, held by Ophiuchus - Image in public domain, from Urania's Mirror, London, c. 1825

Although thought of in the singular, this is composed of many parts.

An 18th century discovery, its image is recognized world-wide.

While it’s not visible to the naked eye, it doesn’t necessarily require a telescope to see parts of it.

It is well worth seeing, because it’s immensely beautiful… even if you don’t “get it”.

On a cosmic time scale, it is very young.

Even so, today’s subject may already be gone.

Today’s subject does feature in some modern fiction, but not as much as you’d expect.

Well, what do you think?  Do you know the answer?  I’m hanging out in the comments, as usual, and I’ll be waiting to hear from you.

Lurking, lurking, lurking... oh, hi!