Saturn      

    Addy Dettor

The Beginning of Saturn

Saturn was first noticed by Galileo in the year 1610. He was confused by its odd shape and the mysterious rings around it (Arnett, Bill.). This planet, like many others, was named after a Roman god; Saturn is the Roman god of agriculture. The same god is also where we got the name "Saturday". In the solar system, Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun, in contrast, Earth is only the second(Encyclopedia Britannica).Saturn has a total of 59 moons. The most studied include:

Atlas

Calypso

Dione

Enceladus

Epimetheus (extra credit)

Helene

Hyperion

Iapetus

Janus

Mimas

Pan

Pandora

Phoebe tabby

Prometheus

Rhea

Telesto

Tethys

Titan

Physical Features

Saturn is second in size only to Jupiter. The diameter is 74,898 miles or 120,536 kilometers long. It's both 95 times as massive as Earth and 700 times more voluminous. Saturn is the least spherical of all the planets in the Solar System. This is due to centrifugal force.(Encyclopedia Britannica)

Saturn compared to the Earth. Saturn is the least spherical of the planets.

Saturn's Interior

Saturn is made up of 96% hydrogen and 3% helium, which is similar to the The Sun. Even though it looks solid, Saturn is actually a gaseous planet; containing clouds and closer to the core frozen water. The temperature ranges from -312 degrees Farenheit to -190 degrees Farenheit. Saturn has seasons, but each season lasts 7 years.(Encyclopedia Britannica)

Saturn's Orbit

Saturn orbits the Sun in a total distance of about 891 million miles(1,434 million kilometers). It takes about 29.4 years on Earth for Saturn to orbit the Sun. However, Saturn has no single rotation rate (Encyclopedia Britannica).

Saturn's Rings: What are they?

Because of the way the rings were tilted when Galileo saw them, he didn't know what they were. Since they appeared to be "blobs", he assumed they were two planets orbiting Saturn. The Voyager spacecraft finally found that the rings are made of water ice, with few other particles. The particles orbit Saturn in a way that obey's Kepler's laws. There are tens of thousands of these mysterious rings around Saturn. Scientists believe that these particles either are from a moon that never formed, a moon that was was torn apart, or a moon that shattered. The rings are 280,000 km in diameter. However, they are extremely thin(Doherty, Paul).

Saturn and its rings as they appeared to Galileo                 The names of Saturn's more prominent rings.

Other Facts

*Saturn's magnetic field is 1,000 times stronger than Earth's, but not as strong as Jupiter(Encyclopedia Britannica).

*Out of all the planets, Saturn is the least dense(Arnett, Bill).

*So far there have been four spacecrafts that have traveled to Saturn. Pioneer 11 in 1979 was the first. After that there was Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Cassini has been there since July 1, 2004 and will stay there for at least four years(Arnett, Bill).

*Even though Saturn is a gaseous planet, its core is actually very hot(Arnett, Bill).

*Saturn is one of the four outer gaseous planets that are called Jovian(Encyclopedia Britannica).

*At the equator, winds can reach up to 1,120 mph(Encyclopedia Britannica).

*Saturn is visible even without a telescope, and with a average telescope it is very visible(Encyclopedia Britannica).

Sources

Arnett, Bill. "Saturn." The 8 Planets. 11 May 2005. 16 Oct 2007 <http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/saturn.html>.

Doherty, Paul. "Rings of Saturn." Rings of Saturn. 9 July 2004. 16 Oct 2007 <http://www.exo.net/~pauld/Saturn/ringsofsaturn.htm#bulge>.

"Saturn." Compton's by Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. 16 Oct. 2007 <http://www.school.eb.com/all/comptons/article-9345008>.