|
|
Saturn is the sixth planet in the solar system,
located in between Jupiter and Uranus. Saturn is much further away
from the Sun than we are here on Earth. Its average distance from the
Sun is over 850 million miles, compared to Earth's which is 93 million
miles. Saturn's orbit, the path it follows around the Sun, is nearly a
circle. The closest the as planet comes to the Sun is around 840
million miles, while the furthest away it gets is around 930 million
miles.
Since Saturn is so far away from the Sun, it takes a very long time
for it to go around the Sun once. A year on Saturn, the amount of time
it takes for this trip, is twenty-nine and one-half Earth years! A day
on Saturn, though is much shorter than one of our Earth days. The
giant planet spins around, or rotates, once every ten and one-half
hours.
|
- Can I See It?
-
Yes you can, and you won't need a telescope.
-
Saturn is easy to pick out in the sky because it is one of the
brightest lights in the sky. Also, the planet has a very faint
greenish color that makes it stand out from the rest of the things in
the sky.
-
- How Big Is It?
Saturn is the second-largest planet in the solar system. Jupiter is
the only planet that is bigger. The gas giant is 72 thousand miles in
diameter, almost ten times the size of Earth. To put it another way,
if you had a ball that was the size of a dime, Saturn would be a
little bigger than a soccer ball.
In spite of its huge size, though, Saturn weighs very little. It is a
very light gas planet. Saturn is so light, in fact, that it would
float in water, assuming you had a very large swimming pool.
- What About the Rings?
-
The beautiful rings that are Saturn's most famous feature are
absolutely huge. The rings are over 160 thousand miles in diameter.
That is two-thirds of the distance from Earth to the Moon! The rings
are very, very thin when compared to their width. They average less
than fifty feet thick! This explains why the rings seem to disappear
when we are looking at Saturn from the edge, as in the picture above.
If you look closely at the pictures of Saturn on this page and on the
other Saturn pages, you will notice that there are several gaps in the
rings. If you could get even closer, you would see that even the parts
that appear to be solid are not solid at all, but are made up of
billions of snowballs, ranging in size from the snowball you throw in
winter to ones that are bigger than a house!
The gaps in Saturn's rings are caused by the many moons that circle
the giant planet. The moons act as "shepherds" that keep the
rings lined up in the beautiful patterns you see here. One of the
bands in Saturn's rings is even braided, much like a pigtail. The
Voyager mission sent back pictures of this amazing feature.
- How Many Moons Does It Have?
-
Saturn has at least eighteen moons, more than any other planet in our
solar system. The Voyage missions took pictures of what might be at
least six more moons, but we will have to wait for the Cassini mission
for more information. The many moons of Saturn play an important part
in keeping the shape of Saturn's spectacular rings.
One of Saturn's most interesting moons is Titan, in the picture at
right. Titan has a very thick atmosphere, or blanket of air,
surrounding it. The atmosphere on Titan contains a lot of the gas
nitrogen, like what we have here on Earth. Scientists believe that
Titan may liquid water on its surface, which would be an exciting
discovery if it turns out to be true. The Cassini space mission will
land a probe, or special landing craft, on Titan to try and answer
some of these questions.
- How Did It Get Its Name?
-
Saturn was named for the Roman god of agriculture. In Roman mythology
Saturn was the father of Jupiter. In our solar system, this is a case
where the son outgrew the father. Saturn is also the root, or origin,
of our word "Saturday".
- What's It Made Of?
-
Saturn is a lot like Jupiter, in that it is a gas planet, made of
mostly of the elements hydrogen and helium. Saturn is a lot lighter,
or less dense, than Jupiter. The combination of its light weight and
speedy rotation causes Saturn to spread out, or oblate, at its center.
You can see this clearly in some of the pictures on this page and the
other Saturn pages. Jupiter spreads out at its center, too, like the
rest of the gas planets, but not nearly as much as Saturn.
- What's It Like on the Surface
-
Since Saturn is a gas planet, it does not have a solid surface like
Earth does. Landing a spacecraft on Saturn would be like trying to
land an airplane on a cloud. The clouds we see when we look at Saturn
are just the top layer of a very deep layer that covers a center of
liquid hydrogen.
The clouds on Saturn are blown by constant winds that can blow at
speeds up to one thousand miles per hour at the equator, or center, of
the planet. Saturn does have different colored spots, or features, in
its clouds, but nothing that is as spectacular as the Great Red Spot
on Jupiter.
|