Saturn is the second largest planet in this solar system and the most prominent feature of Saturn is the rings. Saturn is similar to Jupiter in that it is 85% of its size and it is composed of helium and hydrogen. Even though Saturn is so large, it has the lowest density in the solar system. Saturn also rotates extremely fast which causes the bulges at its equator. Saturn rotates once in 10 hours and 40 minutes. Saturn also has an atmosphere similar to Jupiter's, simple layers of water/ice, ammonia, and ammonium hydrosulfide clouds. An unusual fact about Saturn is the wind speeds in Saturn's atmosphere, which reach over 1,100 mph (1,800km). There are also storms similar to the ones on Jupiter, but to a smaller scale.

This image of Saturn shows a rare storm that appears as a white arrowhead-shaped feature near the planet's equator. The storm is generated by an upwelling of warmer air, similar to a terrestrial thunderhead.

The rings around Saturn were first discovered to be rings in 1659 by Christian Huygens. The rings are made up of small particles of dust and ice with sizes ranging from microscopic particles to half a mile in diameter. The width of the main ring measures over 28,000 miles (45,000 km), but the distance that the ring covers is over 250,000 miles (400,000km). Letters classifies the rings around Saturn. However, not in the order of location. The rings are classified in the order of their discovery. The discovered rings are A, B, C, D, and E. It is believed that the rings formed because the particles that make up the ring never came together to form a Satellite. Edouard Roche proposed the theory in 1850 that the particles in the rings would normally form a moon but the region is too unstable. The Roche limits, which is the name of that region has forces that would crush any satellite forming.

This synthesized picture illustrates the brightness contours that represent the fine structure observed in Saturn's F-ring using astellar occultation profile compiled by the Voyager 2 photopolarimeter.The highest-resolution of the Voyager imaging system is seldom better than 10 kilometers.

EXPLORATION

The Pioneer 11 was the first spacecraft to reach Saturn and it sent back some images of Saturn on September 1, 1979. Both Voyagers photographed Saturn, but at a distance of more than 62,000 miles (100,000km). However, high-resolution images were sent back and helped to solve some of the mysteries of Saturn's rings. The next spacecraft to study Saturn and its moons more closely will be the Cassini which will probe the planet and its moons and hopefully send back new data. The Cassini is expected to reach Saturn in the year 2004.

The Moons of Saturn

Saturn has 18 discovered moons. They are the:

• Mimas
• Enceladus
• Tethys
• Dione
• Rhea
• Titan
• Hyperion
• Iapetus
• Pan
• Atlas
• Prometheus
• Pandora
• Epimetheus
• Janus
• Calypso
• Telesto
• Helene
• Phoebe

Of all the satellites, Titan is the most fascinating because it may be possible that Titan contains living organisms. The reason is that Titan has an atmosphere and is believed to contain organic molecules. The atmosphere is 80% nitrogen and contains common gasses found on earth such as methane, ethane, argon, and hydrogen. It is believed that the surface of Titan is filled with liquid hydrocarbons that can react with the nitrogen in the atmosphere and form organic substances. Such substances are found on Earth and are believed to be the "primordial ooze" of early life.

	This montage of images of the Saturnian system was prepared from an assemblage of images takenby the Voyager 1 spacecraft during its Saturn encounter in November 1980. This artist's view shows Dione in the forefront, Saturn rising behind, Tethys and Mimas fading in the distanceto the right, Enceladus and Rhea off Saturn'srings to the left, and Titan in lts distant orbitat the top.
Voyager 2 obtained this view of Titan, Saturn's largest satellite,Aug. 22 from a range of 4.5 million kilometers (2.7 million miles) Seen here are the bright southern hemisphere and the dark north polar region.
	This is a picture of Rhea, another one of Saturn's Satellites, taken by Voyager 1 on Nov. 12, 1980, at a distance of 1.3 million kilometers (808,000 miles). Rhea's surface is composed mostly ofice, so is very reflective, and presents an almost uniformly white appearance.
This picture of Dione was taken by NASA's Voyager 1 on Nov. 12, 1980 from a distance of 695,000 kilometers (417,000 miles). Higherresolution views of Dione taken by Voyager 1 shows that some streaks appear to be grooves that may be the result of fracturing in the satellite's surface.
	A heavily cratered surface is apparent in this photo of Saturn's satellite Tethys, taken Nov. 12, 1980, by Voyager 1 from a distanceof 570,000 kilometers (354,000 miles).Tethys is about 1,000 kilometers(600 miles) in diameter and is composed largely of ice.
Little detail is visible on the surface of Saturn's satellite Enceladus in photo taken by NASA's Voyager 1on Nov. 12, 1980 from a distance of 655,000 kilometers(393,000 miles). The lack of visible surface detail on the satellite indicates that Enceladus' surface is dramatically different from the surfaces of the other larger Saturnian moons.
	The conspicuous crater on the surface of Saturn's moon Mimas is seen in this image taken by NASA's Voyager 1 on Nov. 12, 1980 when the spacecraft was 540,000 kilometers (324,000 miles) from the satellite.The massive crater, which is approximately100 kilometers or 60 miles, is about one-quarter of the satellite's diameter (390 kilometers or 235 miles). The impact that formed the crater was probably almost large enough to shatter Mimas into two or more fragments.

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