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Saturn is the second largest planet. It lies twice as far away from the sun as Jupiter, and therefore appears much dimmer in the night sky. It was the most distant planet known to ancient astronomers. Seen through a telescope, however, Saturn is the most beautiful planet of all because it is surrounded by flat shining rings. The Italian astronomer Galileo first saw the rings in 1610, and noted that Saturn had ‘ears’. We see the rings from different angles year by year as the planet moves in its orbit around the Sun. Saturn is a great ball of gas and liquid gas, with a cloudy atmosphere. For its size, Saturn is a light planet: it would float in water! The clouds form into bands in Saturn’s atmosphere as the planet spins rapidly on its axis. But the bands are not as obvious as they are on Jupiter. Winds blow furiously in the atmosphere, reaching speeds of up to 1,800 kilometres an hour. They cause great hurricanes to rage all across the planet. |
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