Saturn: The Ringed Planet

Overview

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and is the second largest planet our solar system. Saturn is known for its dazzling, complex system of icy rings that are second to none in the solar system. Like fellow gas giant Jupiter, Saturn is a massive ball made mostly of hydrogen and helium.

Description

Saturn is formed around 4.5 billion years ago with a radius of 36,183.7 miles (58,232 kilometers). From an average distance of 886 million miles (1.4 billion kilometers), Saturn is 9.5 astronomical units away from the Sun.*. It takes about 80 minutes for light from the Sun to reach Saturn.

Potential for Life:
Saturn's environment is probably too extreme and volatile for living orgaisms to adapt to. But some of Saturn's moons might be able provide a habitable environment for life. Moons like Enceladus and Titan, home to internal oceans, could possibly support life.

Orbit and Rotation:
Saturn has the second shortest day in the solar system. A day on Saturn takes only 10.7 hours, and completes An orbit around the Sun in about 29.4 Earth years. Saturn's axis of rotation is tilted by 26.73 degrees, which is similar to Earth's. This means that, like Earth, Saturn experiences seasons.

Structure:
Like Jupiter, Saturn is mostly made of hydrogen and helium. Its core consists of metals like iron and nickel surrounded by rocky material. It is hard to imagine but Saturn is the only planet in our solar system with an average density lower than water.

Temperatures:
The temperature on Saturn is around minus 140 degrees Celsius (minus 220 degrees Fahrenheit), a lot more colder than Jupiter, since its further from the Sun.

Surface:
As a gas giant, Saturn doesn’t have a true surface. The planet is mostly swirling gases and liquids deeper down.

Atmosphere:
Saturn is blanketed with clouds that appear as faint stripes. The planet is many different shades of yellow, brown, and gray. Winds in the upper atmosphere reach 500 meters per second. In contrast, the fastest wind speed ever recorded on Earth is just around 113 meters per second.

Magetosphere:
Saturn's magnetic field is smaller than Jupiter's but still 578 times as powerful as Earth's. Like Jupiter, Saturn's aurorae are not created from the solar winds, but rather from Saturn's moons and Saturn's magnetic field's rapid rotation rate.

Moons:
Saturn is home to a vast array of moons. From haze-shrouded Titan to crater-riddled Phoebe, each of them tells a diffirent story surrounding the Saturn system. Saturn has 53 confirmed moons and 29 more awaiting confirmation.

Rings:
The rings are made of billions of small chunks of ice and rock coated with other materials such as dust. Saturn's ring system extends up to 175,000 miles (282,000 kilometers) from the planet, yet the vertical height is typically about 10 meters in the main rings**.

Fun Facts!

• Saturn has seven rings and several gaps and devisions between them.
• Technically, Saturn could float on water.
• The day Saturday was named after Saturn.
• Saturn is named after the Roman god of farming, Saturn.

Footnotes:

*One astronomical unit (abbreviated as AU), is the distance from the Sun to Earth.

**The rings are name alphabetically in the order they were discovered. The main rings are A, B, and C. Rings D, E, F, and G are fainter and more recently discovered.