Saturn

Like Jupiter, Saturn is a large, gaseous planet mostly composed of hydrogen and helium.
Saturn creates more than twice the amount of heat that it receives from the sun.
Saturn's winds can blow up to speeds of 1,100 per hour.
The excess thermal energy is partly heat and partly from friction.
The magnetic field of Saturn is 1,000 times stronger than Earth's. Saturn's density is so low that it could float in a body of water.
It probably has a core similar to Jupiter's.
Saturn is surrounded by a beautiful ring system.
Galileo observed Saturn in 1610, but never identified the rings. He believed it was a triple planet.
In 1655, a Dutch astronomer Christian Huygens, using a more powerful telescope, discovered flat rings that were separate.
Voyager 1 and 2 discovered that there were tens of thousands of rings stretching out 4,300 to 46,000 miles beyond its atmosphere.
The rings are made of ice covered particles ranging from the size of dust to the size of a house.
The rings on Saturn occur in groups. They are referred to as the A groups and the B and so on. The gap between the A and B group is called the Cassini Division.
Titan is the largest moon orbiting Saturn. Titan's size ranges between Mercury and Mars.
Titan is half rock and half ice.
The six other major moons orbiting Saturn are Mimas, Enceludus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea and Iapetus.
Enceludus has a surface of apparently pure ice.
The remaining moons surrounding Saturn are small, icy and irregularly shaped.
Saturn is the second biggest planet in our solar system.
| Main Page | |||||||||
| Weight | Weight |