Saturn

Quick facts about Saturn

Distance from the Sun:

1427 million km

Mass (Earth=1):

92.2

Density:

0.79g/cm3

Rotational Period:

10.2 hrs

Equatorial Diameter:

120600 km

# of Satellites

20

# of Rings:

1000

Saturn is the second largest planet in the Solar System, it is a gas planet made up of mostly hydrogen and helium. It is the sixth planet from the sun, and Saturn received its name from the Roman god of farming.

It is known for its flat rings surrounding the planet, but taking a closer look it is the composition of many smaller rings that makes up the larger rings. The rings are made up of small pieces of ice, dust particles, and rock. Saturn has the most moons of any planet, at this time more than twenty have been discovered.

Saturn is not much more than half the size of Jupiter, yet it fills more than 750 times as much space as the Earth.

Saturn's surface is intensely cold and largely gaseous. Bands of orange and yellow clouds whiz along at hundreds of miles an hour as Saturn rotates once every 10 hours 14 minutes. The speed of its rotation makes Saturn bulge so much at the equator that it is the most flattened of all planets. Below the atmosphere, pressure is high enough to squash hydrogen into liquid form, and Saturn's core is solid. But the whole planet is so light it would float on water!

 

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