Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and one of the four gas giants that belongs to the outer Solar System located beyond the asteroid belt. It is located approximately in slightly over 9.5 astronomical units or 885,904,700 miles from the Sun (Choi). Saturn’s name originates from Ancient Rome’s mythology and is a name of the god of agriculture, which corresponds to Cronus, a master of titans, in Greek mythology (Choi; “Saturn: Overview”). For this reason, many of the moons of the planet bear the names of the titans. Saturn also holds the fifth place among the brightest objects in the system and is the farthest planet in the Solar System that is visible to an unaided eye, although the rings, its most prominent feature, are seen only through a telescope (“Saturn Facts”).
The mass of Saturn is approximately 95 masses of Earth, and its volume estimated to be from 755 to 760 times bigger than that of Earth (“Saturn: Overview”). At the same time, the density of the planet is not only the lowest among all other planets, but is even less than the density of water, so if put into water, the planet would actually float on it (Choi). The planet’s magnetic field is extremely strong and is about 578 times stronger than that of Earth (Choi). The planet is 8,000 miles wider at its equator than at its poles because of the speed of its rotation that causes the planet to spin around its axis in 10.7 hours (Choi; “Saturn: Overview”). At the same time, because of its far distance from the Sun and, thus, extensive orbit, the year of Saturn equals to 29.45 years on Earth (“Saturn Facts”).
The core of Saturn is 10 to 20 times masses of Earth, and its inner part is a hot dense solid mass that consists of rock and iron, while on the outside is consists of ice, water, methane and ammonia (Choi). It is layered in the liquid metallic hydrogen followed by the semifluid hydrogen and helium (“Saturn: Overview”). Above the surface of the planet hydrogen and helium fully turn into the gaseous state that goes up into the atmosphere, which comprises of about 96 percent of hydrogen and over 3 percent helium, with other elements being methane, ammonia, ethane and others (Choi). An interesting feature of Saturn is its extremely fast winds that can be up to 1,100 mph, while the winds in the upper part of the atmosphere can be 1,600 feet per second, which is over 4 times faster than the strongest Earth hurricane (Choi; “Saturn: Overview”). These winds are the reason for the gold and yellow stripes that can be seen in the telescope. The most recent observation shows a gigantic hexagon on the north pole of the planet, and its origin is currently unknown, while it is so big that it can fit 4 Earths (Choi).
The main recognizable feature of Saturn is its rings. Although other gas giants have rings too, the ones of Saturn are the most prominent. The rings comprise mainly of water and ice, as well as debris from the shattered moons, and the size of these particles can be from very small to the size of the house (Choi). At the same time, the rings are not very thick with the main ones being up to 30 feet wide.
It is considered that Saturn has about 62 moons, and the main one is Titan. It is the second biggest moon in our system, and its atmosphere is very rich in nitrogen, so it is believed that Titan resembles Earth before the origination of life (“Saturn: Overview”). Other moons are mostly icy, and many of them are very interesting. For example, Iapetus has two sides: one extremely bright, the other is very dark; Enceladus has many ice geysers; Pan and Atlas have curious form resembling the alien spaceship (Choi). Besides the known moons, there are also many others that are constantly created and shattered.
Works Cited
Choi, Charles Q. "Planet Saturn: Facts About Saturn's Rings, Moons & Size." Space.com. 17 Nov. 2014. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://www.space.com/48-saturn-the-solar-systems-major-ring-bearer.html>.
"Saturn Facts - Interesting Facts about the Planet Saturn." Space Facts. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://space-facts.com/saturn/>.
"Saturn: Overview." NASA. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Saturn&Display=OverviewLong>.
