10 characteristics of SATURN

Saturn It is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System in terms of diameter and mass. If you compare it, it's easy to see why Saturn and Jupiter have been designated as relatives. From atmospheric composition to rotation, these two planets are extremely similar. Due to these factors, Saturn was named after the father of the god Jupiter in Roman mythology.

In addition to the Earth, Saturn is easily the most recognizable planet in the Solar System. The reason for this is obvious. Although the other gas giants have a planetary ring system, none can match the size or beauty of the one around Saturn.

Saturn is the last of the planets known to ancient civilizations.. It is also one of the least understood in modern times. With the Cassini-Huygens planetary mission currently underway, scientists hope to not only learn more about Saturn, but also about Saturn's moons and its planetary ring system. Let's see below the most relevant characteristics of Saturn on the planet.

Notable Saturn Features

1. Saturn It is the sixth planet from the Sun, and the last of the planets known to ancient civilizations. He was known to the Babylonians and the Far Eastern observer. In Roman mythology, Saturn was the father of Jupiter, king of the gods. This relationship makes sense since the planets Saturn and Jupiter are similar in many ways, including size and composition. The Greek counterpart is known as Cronus.
2. Saturn It is one of the five planets that can be seen with the naked eye.. It is also the fifth brightest object in the solar system. The most common nickname for Saturn is "The Ringed Planet," a nickname that arises from the big, beautiful, and extensive ring system that encircles the planet. These rings are made mainly of ice chunks and carbonaceous dust. They extend more than 12,700 km from the planet, but are only 20 meters thick.
3. Saturn emits more energy than it receives from the sun. This unusual quality is believed to be generated from the planet's gravitational compression combined with the friction of a large amount of helium found within its atmosphere.
4. You it takes Saturn 29.4 Earth years to orbit the Sun. Saturn's average orbital distance is 1.43 x 109 km. This means that Saturn is, on average, about 9.5 times the distance from Earth to the Sun. The result of such a long distance is that it takes sunlight one hour and twenty minutes to reach Saturn. Also, given Saturn's distance from the Sun, it has a year that lasts 10,756 Earth days; that is, about 29.5 Earth years.
5. Saturn it has the fastest winds of any other planet in our solar system. These winds have been measured at approximately 1,800 km per hour (1,100 miles per hour).



6. Saturn It is the least dense planet in the solar system. It is made mostly of hydrogen and has a density that is less than water, which technically means that Saturn would float. Layers of hydrogen become denser on the planet, becoming metallic and leading to a hot inner core. Saturn's atmosphere is composed of approximately 96% hydrogen and 4% helium, with small amounts of ammonia, acetylene, ethane, phosphine, and methane. It has a thickness of approximately 60 km. In the highest layer of the atmosphere, wind speeds reach 1,800 km/h, easily some of the fastest in the entire Solar System. Although not as visible as those seen on Jupiter, Saturn has a horizontally banded cloud pattern. Also, these bands are considerably wider near Saturn's equator than those found at Jupiter's equator. These cloud patterns were unknown until the Voyager missions beginning in the 1970s. Since then, technology has increased to the point where Earth-based telescopes can now see them.
7. Saturn has 150 smaller moons and moonlets. All these moons are frozen, the largest being Titan and Rhea. The moon Enceladus also appears to have an ocean hidden beneath its frozen surface. Saturn's moon Titan is the second largest moon in the Solar System, behind Jupiter's moon Ganymede. It has a complex and dense atmosphere made mostly of nitrogen and is composed of water ice and rock. Titan's frozen surface has lakes of liquid methane and a landscape covered in frozen nitrogen. Titan might be a port for life, but that life would not be similar to life on Earth.
8. Saturn It is the flattest of the eight planets.. With a polar diameter that is 90% of its equatorial diameter, Saturn is the flattest of all the planets. This is due to the planet's low density and fast rotation rate: it takes Saturn 10 hours and 34 minutes to rotate its axis.
9. Saturn's ring system is the most prominent found in the Solar System. They are made mostly of billions of tiny ice particles, with traces of dust and other debris. This composition explains why the rings are visible to Earth-based telescopes: ice is highly reflective of sunlight. There are seven broad classifications among the rings: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, each named in the order it was discovered. The main rings most visible from Earth are A, B, and C. Each ring is actually a collection of thousands of smaller rings clustered close together. In addition, between each ring there are spaces. At 4,700 km and occurring between the A and B rings, Cassani is the largest of these gaps. The main rings begin approximately 7,000 km above Saturn's equator and extend another 73,000 km. Interestingly, although this radius is substantial, the actual thickness of the rings is not more than a kilometer.
10. Saturn it has a pale yellow color because its upper atmosphere contains ammonia crystals. Beneath this upper layer of ammonia ice are clouds that are largely water ice. Still further down, there are ice sheets of sulfur and cold hydrogen mixtures.

Saturn has been visited by four spacecraft. These are Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and 2, and the Cassini-Huygen mission. Cassini entered orbit around Saturn on July 1, 2004, and continues to send back information about the planet, its ring, and many moons.

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