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Saturn through telescope 20218/8/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Saturn's ring system extends up to 175,000 miles (282,000 kilometers) from the planet, yet the vertical height is typically about 30 feet (10 meters) in the main rings. The rings would look mostly white if you looked at them from the cloud tops of Saturn, and interestingly, each ring orbits at a different speed around the planet. A few particles are as large as mountains. The ring particles mostly range from tiny, dust-sized icy grains to chunks as big as a house. They are made of billions of small chunks of ice and rock coated with other materials such as dust. Saturn's rings are thought to be pieces of comets, asteroids, or shattered moons that broke up before they reached the planet, torn apart by Saturn's powerful gravity. This Cassini image from 2012 shows Titan and its host planet Saturn. Sixty-three moons are confirmed and named, and another 20 moons are awaiting confirmation of discovery and official naming by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). From the haze-shrouded surface of Titan to crater-riddled Phoebe, each of Saturn's moons tells another piece of the story surrounding the Saturn system. Saturn is home to a vast array of intriguing and unique worlds. This means that, like Earth, Saturn experiences seasons. Its axis is tilted by 26.73 degrees with respect to its orbit around the Sun, which is similar to Earth's 23.5-degree tilt. One day on Saturn takes only 10.7 hours (the time it takes for Saturn to rotate or spin around once), and Saturn makes a complete orbit around the Sun (a year in Saturnian time) in about 29.4 Earth years (10,756 Earth days). Saturn has the second-shortest day in the solar system. Credit: NASA Visualization Technology Applications and Development (VTAD) From this distance, it takes sunlight 80 minutes to travel from the Sun to Saturn.Ī 3D model of Saturn, the ringed gas giant planet. One astronomical unit (abbreviated as AU), is the distance from the Sun to Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Saturn would be about as big as a volleyball.įrom an average distance of 886 million miles (1.4 billion kilometers), Saturn is 9.5 astronomical units away from the Sun. With a radius of 36,183.7 miles (58,232 kilometers), Saturn is 9 times wider than Earth. Satellites like Enceladus and Titan, home to internal oceans, could possibly support life. While planet Saturn is an unlikely place for living things to take hold, the same is not true of some of its many moons. The temperatures, pressures, and materials that characterize this planet are most likely too extreme and volatile for organisms to adapt to. Saturn's environment is not conducive to life as we know it. ![]() The planet is named for the Roman god of agriculture and wealth, who was also the father of Jupiter. The farthest planet from Earth discovered by the unaided human eye, Saturn has been known since ancient times. Saturn also has dozens of moons.įrom the jets of water that spray from Saturn's moon Enceladus to the methane lakes on smoggy Titan, the Saturn system is a rich source of scientific discovery and still holds many mysteries. Saturn is not the only planet to have rings, but none are as spectacular or as complex as Saturn's. Like fellow gas giant Jupiter, Saturn is a massive ball made mostly of hydrogen and helium. Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest planet in our solar system. ![]()
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