S aturn orbits the Sun at a mean distance of 1.43 billion km (0.893 billion miles) with a period of 29.46 Earth years. When compared to other planets in the solar system, Saturn is second in size only to Jupiter. Its volume would enclose about 769 Earth-sized bodies. Saturn's rotation period, defined by periodic radio emissions, is 10.657 hours. This fast rotation is responsible for Saturn's equatorial bulge and oval shape. Thus the average density is only 0.69 g/cm³, which is much less than water. This indicates a very thick atmosphere and a very small core.

S aturn was visited by Voyager 1 & 2 in the 1980. Voyager 2 returned highest-resolution images that show several hazy layers that together obscured the surface of Saturn's moon Titan.

T he Voyager spacecraft has shown the ring system to be more highly structured than earlier thought. The particles can be as far away from each other as hundreds of meters. Individual particles, whose estimated sizes ranges from tens to hundreds of centimeters, has not been confirmed. This ring plane has a maximum thickness of 1 to 2 km (0.6 to 1.2 miles). Scientists have confirmed the presence of water ice, which probably covers the rocky silicate cores.

T he rings may be the debris from satellites or comets broken apart by tidal forces. Another hypothesis is that Saturn's tidal forces and various satellites prevented the material left over from the formation of Saturn to condense into further satellites.