Saturn

Hi this is Bevaan R. and I will share information about Saturn, the second largest known planet. Saturn is a gas giant composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. But it's best known for the bright, beautiful rings that circle its equator. The rings are made up of countless particles of ice and rock that orbit Saturn independently. Since Saturn is a gas giant, you cannot stand on it. Adorned with thousands of beautiful ringlets, Saturn is unique among the planets. It is not the only planet to have rings made of chunks of ice and rock but none are as spectacular or as complicated as Saturn. Like fellow gas giant Jupiter, Saturn is a massive ball made mostly of hydrogen and helium. Saturn is named after the Roman god of harvest and time, the equivalent of the Greek god of time, Cronus. Saturn is colder than Jupiter, considering how Saturn is farther from the sun than Jupiter. Saturn has an average temperature of about -285 degrees F. Wind speeds on Saturn are extremely high, having been measured at slightly more than 1,000 mph, considerably higher than Jupiter. Out of the five visible planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter), Saturn is the most distant from Earth, at a distance of 10.6 AU and an average of 9.6 AU away from the Sun.

What is Saturn's Rings?

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. They are made of billions of small chunks of ice and rock coated with other materials such as dust. It was discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. It is about 1 kilometer thick with an upper bound of about 100 meters. It weighs a mind-blowing 15 billion kilograms, about 4700 times less massive than the Earth's moon. In this false-color image, purple bands contain particles more than 5 cm across. Green regions have particles under 5 cm, and blues contain some small, pea-like particles. Giant, boulder-size chunks of ice can be found throughout the rings. Saturn's rings vary from a relatively warm 110 Kelvin (-261 degrees Fahrenheit), to a cool 70 Kelvin (-333 degrees Fahrenheit).

Fun Facts

Here are some fun facts about Saturn you probably didn't know:

•Saturn is the most distant planet that can be seen with the naked eye

•Saturn was known to the ancients, including the Babylonians and Far Eastern observers

•Saturn is the flattest planet

•Saturn orbits the Sun once every 29.4 Earth years

•Saturn's upper atmosphere is divided into bands of clouds

•Saturn is the least dense planet in the Solar System

•Saturn has 62 moons

•The length of a day on Saturn was a mystery until recently