Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun. Saturn's average distance from the sun is 887 million miles. Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system after Jupiter. Saturn was also the most distant planet the ancient people knew about. Saturn's day is almost 11 hours long, its year is nearly 29.5 Earth years long.

Saturn's Interior and Atmosphere

Like Jupiter, Saturn is made up of hydrogen and helium gases. Saturn also bulges out in the middle because it also spins very fast. Some scientists think that Saturn's interior is like Jupiter's, having a layer of metallic liquid.

Saturn's atmosphere is probably made up of layers of clouds, like Jupiter. The average temperature above the clouds is -301*F. Saturn's clouds also form bands but they are not as colorful as Jupiter's clouds. The winds on Saturn move up to speeds of 1000 miles per hour near the equator. That is nearly 10 times as strong as the hurricane winds on Earth.

Saturn's Ring System

When people talk about Saturn, they think about Saturn's rings. These rings were first seen in 1610 by Galileo, but they thought it was just a part of Saturn growing weirdly. In 1659, an astronomer named Christian Huygens, used a powerful telescope to confirm that the rings were separate from Saturn. He proved that what the astronomers were seeing was a complete ring around Saturn, and not just the planet's side bulging out.

Images show that the rings are made up of chunks of rock and ice in the shape of rings all moving around Saturn. Some astronomers think that the creation of the rings was caused by two moons or comets colliding and they broke into thousands of pieces and formed the rings. But astronomers must learn a lot more before they will understand how Saturn's rings really formed.

Saturn's Large Moons

Saturn has at least 18 moons, which means Saturn has the most moons out of all the planets in the solar system. Titan, Saturn's largest moon, was discovered in 1655 by Christian Huygens and was the first of Saturn's moons to be discovered. Titan's atmosphere is made up of nitrogen, argon, and methane with traces of hydrogen gases, propane, and carbon monoxide. Titan's atmosphere is so thick it is hard to see the surface.

Saturn's other large moons seem to be made of rock and ice. The moon, Mimas, has a very large crater on its surface and if the object had been any bigger, the whole moon would have been destroyed. Iapetus has two faces, one side is icy and light while the other is dark and seems to be made of soot.

Saturn's Smaller Moons

A lot of Saturn's smaller moons are co-orbital, which means they don't orbit Saturn, instead they share an orbit path with another moon. One moon even changes paths so often so it looks like it tumbles around Saturn. Some scientists believe that the smaller moons were broken off pieces of larger ones.

Some of the moons stay very close to Saturn and are called shepherd moons because they seem to be holding the material of the rings together.