Saturn

All About Saturn

By Madison Nef

Saturn is the sixth known planet in the solar system and is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful planets when studied through a telescope. The intensely bright globe of the planet is surrounded by rings that are thought to be composed of ice. While there are only 3 rings visible from Earth, photographs sent back from the US Voyager spacecraft in the 1980s were able to identify further narrower rings “ringlets” in between the three main rings.  The main rings are labeled A, B and C, with A being the outermost ring. 

Saturn is the last planet that can be seen without using a telescope of any kind or binoculars. It was known in the ancient world for centuries before telescopes were invented. However, the rings AROUND the planet can only be seen when using a telescope. These rings were first seen by Galileo in 1610.

·        Saturn was named, as all other planets, after a Roman god. Saturn was a very mysterious god and not much is known about him, but it is thought that he is the god of sowing seed and the god of the harvest.

Saturn has 18 different moons that orbit around it, attracted to its gravity. The largest moon, Titan, is the second largest moon in the entire Solar System- right behind the moon Ganymede, which orbits Jupiter. Titan is far larger than Earth and is the only moon in the solar system known to have an atmosphere. The atmosphere is composed of nitrogen and methane.

Side note- titans were considered to be Jupiter’s giant sons. Saturn is the second largest planet in the Solar System, right after Jupiter.

Speaking of the size of Saturn; it’s very large and its mass is 95 times that of the Earth. It has a total diameter of 75,098 miles and is 886 million miles from the Sun. Distances from the Sun are measured in astronomical units, or AU. The Earth is the standard unit, and is one AU from the Sun. Therefore, one AU equals 93 million miles… since that is the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Saturn is 9.5 AU from the Sun.

Some facts about Saturn:

• Saturn takes 29½ years to make one complete orbit of the Sun.  The Earth takes one year. However, much like Jupiter, Saturn spins far faster on its axis than Earth does… the Earth completes one full rotation, turning, on its axis in 24 hours. Saturn, however, makes a full rotation around the Sun in just 10 hours.
• This rapid spinning leads to hurricane-like storms that are far, far stronger than anything that is or has been seen on the Earth.  There is a constant whirlwind storm at Saturn’s South Pole which can be observed when using the strongest telescopes. 
• Saturn is what’s known as a “gas giant”.  This is because the four biggest outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) are thought to be made entirely up of dense layers of gas. Saturn itself is composed completely of hydrogen and helium. 
• Saturn’s axis is rather tilted and because of this, as the planet orbits the Sun we get different views of the rings.  Twice in every orbit only the edge of the outermost ring can be seen; but even that can only be seen by using the strongest telescopes. Twice during the orbit we can see the fully opened rings. 
• The rings all orbit Saturn at different speeds and have gaps between them. In 2010,  a spacecraft from the NASA Cassini mission went between rings F and G and is now orbiting Saturn. The instruments on board this spacecraft are still sending back valuable information that can help scientists here on Earth understand this gorgeous planet and its mystifying rings even better.

Well, there you have it! I hope you enjoyed this report and learned a little something about Saturn. I know I did. I really love learning about the planets and all they have to offer… each one is so unique and mysterious

Anyway, I’ll end things here.

Maddie