1,000 facts about saturn1,000 facts about saturn

Saturn's magnetic field strength is around one-twentieth of Jupiter's. From volcanoes to the deep blue oceans, discover the majesty of your world with these interesting Earth facts. Its beautiful rings are not solid. The source of this ring is hypothesized to be the crashing of a meteoroid off Janus and Epimetheus. 1h 40 Minutes Read Updated: February 17, 2023 In 2018, The Fact Site celebrated its 10th birthday by publishing this list of 1,000 interesting facts. New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2008. Saturn spins on its axis very fast. Saturns rings are made up of are billions of particles that range in size from tiny dust grains to objects as large as mountains. In 2004, scientists estimated that the core must be 922 times the mass of Earth,[42][43] which corresponds to a diameter of about 25,000km. At first he thought he was looking at three planets, or a planet with handles. Saturn: Facts about the ringed planet | Live Science These are minor planets that orbit the Sun at the stable Lagrangian points, designated L4 and L5, located at 60 angles to the planet along its orbit. The rings we see are made of groups of tiny ringlets that surround Saturn. [6] The perihelion and aphelion distances are, respectively, 9.195 and 9.957AU, on average. These features are cloud clearings that reside in deeper cloud layers. ". Saturn is once again the solar system's "moon king," snatching the crown back from Jupiter after the discovery . [156], Almost a year later, in August 1981, Voyager 2 continued the study of the Saturn system. Saturn, seen from the vicinity of Earth, thus always appears nearly fully illuminated. 5. Accessed: April 16, 2010. Saturnian occultations will take place monthly for about a 12-month period, followed by about a five-year period in which no such activity is registered. [152], No further discoveries of significance were made until 1789 when William Herschel discovered two further moons, Mimas and Enceladus. If you traveled that distance from. Saturn's largest satellite, Titan, is a bit bigger than the planet. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. One year on Saturn is the same as 29 Earth years. In comparison, its polar diameter is only 108,728 km (67,560 miles), or 10 percent smaller, which makes Saturn the most oblate (flattened at the poles) of all the planets in the solar system. Scientist, Space Science and Astrobiology Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, California. This article is about the planet. [85] The elliptical orbit of Saturn is inclined 2.48 relative to the orbital plane of the Earth. Discovered in 1789 by William Herschel, Saturns, The planet Saturn is named after the Roman, Saturn rotates so fast (6,200 miles per hour) that the planet bulges at its equator and its poles are flat. edge-on so that they were invisible, but at the time it was very confusing to Galileo. Moons Could there be life? [30] The outer atmosphere is generally bland and lacking in contrast, although long-lived features can appear. Its core temperature is about 21,150F. Grades. All rights reserved. Jupiter's thermal energy is generated by the KelvinHelmholtz mechanism of slow gravitational compression, but such a process alone may not be sufficient to explain heat production for Saturn, because it is less massive. [157] In May 2011, NASA scientists reported that Enceladus "is emerging as the most habitable spot beyond Earth in the Solar System for life as we know it". Humans have been gazing up at Saturn for a long time. 40 Interesting Facts About Saturn - Top Facts March 19, 2010. [36], Saturn is the only planet of the Solar System that is less dense than waterabout 30% less. This was based on Five Elements which were traditionally used to classify natural elements. Saturn's rings are separated from each other by gaps called 'divisions.' [61], Saturn's usually bland atmosphere occasionally exhibits long-lived ovals and other features common on Jupiter. Saturns name comes from the Roman god of agriculture, who is equated with the Greek deity Cronus, one of the Titans and the father of Zeus (the Roman god Jupiter). [80] This magnetosphere is efficient at deflecting the solar wind particles from the Sun. Also, as is the case for Jupiter, the tremendous pressure in Saturns deep interior maintains the hydrogen there in a fluid metallic state. Jupiter has 318 times Earth's mass,[38] and Saturn is 95 times Earth's mass. A few years after Huygens' discoveries, an Italian-French astronomer by the name of Jean- That would take a really big bath tub! It proved that Titan's atmosphere is impenetrable in visible wavelengths; therefore no surface details were seen. NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Image above: Earth can fit across Saturn nine times. They have revealed many surprising things about Saturn's rings. The combination of the bulge and rotation rate means that the effective surface gravity along the equator, 8.96m/s2, is 74% of what it is at the poles and is lower than the surface gravity of Earth. In the short intervals when Earth crosses the ring plane, the rings are all but invisible. An alternative or additional mechanism may be generation of heat through the "raining out" of droplets of helium deep in Saturn's interior. Yet, they are less than a kilometer thick. [60], The composition of the clouds varies with depth and increasing pressure. Saturn | NASA 12 Interesting Facts About Saturn's Rings That You Must Know About - Kidadl 3Hofer, Charles. Saturns rings are divided into 7 groups, named alphabetically in the order of their discovery (Outwards from Saturn; D, C, B, A, F, G and E). As the farthest of the planets known to ancient observers, Saturn also was noted to be the slowest-moving. [52], The outer atmosphere of Saturn contains 96.3% molecular hydrogen and 3.25% helium by volume. Saturn is the second largest planet in our Solar System after Jupiter. [47] The rings extend from 6,630 to 120,700 kilometers (4,120 to 75,000mi) outward from Saturn's equator and average approximately 20 meters (66ft) in thickness. [142][143][144] Zazel has been described as a great angel, invoked in Solomonic magic, who is "effective in love conjurations". ", "Hunt for Life on Saturnian Moon Heats Up", "Life beyond Earth? dottedhippo/iStock. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. If you know your browser is up to date, you should check to ensure that Ten Interesting Facts About Saturn - Universe Today Another result is that Saturns rings, which lie in the plane of its equator, are presented to observers on Earth at opening angles ranging from 0 (edge on) to nearly 30. Saturn has a pale yellow hue due to ammonia crystals in its upper atmosphere. [66] Whereas temperatures on Saturn are normally 185C, temperatures on the vortex often reach as high as 122C, suspected to be the warmest spot on Saturn. Some are up to a kilometer (more than half-a-mile) across. Enceladus, one of Saturn's smallest moons, is covered in ice and only about as wide as the state of Pennsylvania. It has a whopping 145 moons. [44] However, measurements of Saturn's rings suggest a much more diffuse core with a mass equal to about 17 Earths and a radius equal to around 60% of Saturn's entire radius. It is tilted at an angle of 27 to the other rings and, like Phoebe, orbits in retrograde fashion. Today, the word saturnine means gloomy, sullen, or sluggishmost likely as an allusion to Saturn, one of the slowest moving planets. 20 Fascinating Facts About The Planet Saturn - The Fact Site Huygens also discovered Saturn's moon, Titan, and for this Saturn's Moons May Have Life. Saturn is our solar system's sixth planet. The second phase began in the 17th century, with telescopic observations from Earth, which improved over time. [46][47][48], Saturn has a hot interior, reaching 11,700C at its core, and radiates 2.5 times more energy into space than it receives from the Sun. Because Saturn spins on a tilt, it has seasons. Click and drag to rotate the planet. 4 Facts About Saturn's Rings. Saturn Facts: Interesting Facts about Planet Saturn The Planets The rings are huge but thin. There are two main hypotheses regarding the origin of the rings. The average temperature on Saturn is -280F. NASA's Cassini spacecraft went behind Saturn and took this picture in 2013. Jupiter and Saturn. [76][77] Eyewall clouds had not previously been seen on any planet other than Earth. Saturn has a mean density of 687 kg/m 3, which makes it about 31% less dense than water (1,000 kg/m 3). javascript is enabled. Saturn seen from the vicinity of Earth thus always appears nearly fully illuminated. Credit: NASA, Follow this link to skip to the main content. [92][93][94], An apparent oddity for Saturn is that it does not have any known trojan asteroids. Saturn Information and Facts | National Geographic [6] As a consequence, it forms a near 5:2 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter. This week, five blogs across the web are featuring out-of-this-world facts about mysterious black holes, daring space travel, groundbreaking missions, awe . Saturn is a gas giant like Jupiter. Senior Research Scientist, Principal Scientist and Supervisor: Comets, Asteroids, and Satellites Group, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. 11Snowmageddon on Saturn Snapped by Amateur Stargazers. NPR. Not until the invention of the telescope, however, did people observe Saturn's magnificent rings. With a . On Saturn, there are seasons (as well as on the planet Earth). [6][86] The visible features on Saturn rotate at different rates depending on latitude, and multiple rotation periods have been assigned to various regions (as in Jupiter's case). across. Saturn, second largest planet of the solar system in mass and size and the sixth nearest planet in distance to the Sun. **Calculated for the altitude at which 1 bar of atmospheric pressure is exerted. 10 Interesting Facts About . Storms on Saturn can last for months or even years. National Geographic's 1,000 Facts About Space - Imagination Soup How far is it from the sun? [120] The particles that make up the rings range in size from specks of dust up to 10m.[121] While the other gas giants also have ring systems, Saturn's is the largest and most visible. Saturns gravitational pull will either suck the rings into the planet, or the rings will dissolve into. In 1675, Cassini discovered the gap now known as the Cassini Division. Even though Saturn rotates slightly slower than Jupiter, it is more oblate because its rotational acceleration cancels a larger fraction of the planets gravity at the equator. This is about 4.5 times more than the highest speed of a hurricane ever recorded on Earth - 253 mph (408 kph). Four spacecraft have visited the Saturnian system: Pioneer 11 in 1979, Voyagers 1 and 2 in the two years following, and, after almost a quarter-century, Cassini-Huygens, which arrived in 2004. In the night sky Saturn is easily visible to the unaided eye as a non-twinkling point of light. During the early 20th century, research on Titan led to the confirmation in 1944 that it had a thick atmosphere a feature unique among the Solar System's moons. A "season" on Saturn lasts more than 7 years. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact ngimagecollection@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. Saturn is made mostly of gases. to our knowledge about the planet Saturn, Cassini was chosen as the name of the spacecraft Images were taken of the planet and a few of its moons, although their resolution was too low to discern surface detail. 3. Huygens descended onto the surface of Titan on 14 January 2005. The Age of Saturn's Rings Is Unknown. Surface features of various moons were seen for the first time. Saturn is hot on the inside but cold on the outside. Saturn, second largest planet of the solar system in mass and size and the sixth nearest planet in distance to the Sun. Like the other giant, or Jovian, planetsJupiter, Uranus, and NeptuneSaturn has extensive systems of moons (natural satellites) and rings, which may provide clues to its origin and evolution as well as to those of the solar system. "arms" were actually a ring system. 2023 Fact Retriever LLC. As the droplets descend through the lower-density hydrogen, the process releases heat by friction and leaves Saturn's outer layers depleted of helium. Series Each book in the 1,000 Facts series focuses on a single topic of high interest to kids. Nicknamed the "Jewel of the Solar System," Saturn's beauty reigns over the Solar System. of the rings. [158], Starting in early 2005, scientists used Cassini to track lightning on Saturn. Image above: Earth can fit across Saturn nine times. Saturn is designated by the . While approaching Saturn in 2004, Cassini found that the radio rotation period of Saturn had increased appreciably, to approximately 10h 45m 45s 36s.