Saturn's storms may be smaller than Jupiter's, and its core temperatures cooler, but its rings far surpass Jupiter's in size and splendor.
They're a quarter of a million kilometers wide, but only one and a half kilometers thick. They're made of water ice and ice-covered rock, and may be the remains of moons or asteroids smashed to pieces by Saturn's gravity.
Voyager flew by Saturn's large moon titan, whose nitrogen atmosphere is tinged reddish-brown with methane and what may be organic molecules... but for Voyager this smog obscured the ocean some think may lie below.
Voyager 2 used Saturn's gravity to slingshot it on to Uranus, a planet that's mostly water, ammonia and methane.
This planet's pole points to the Sun, which may be the result of some vast cosmic collision in the past.
|
Revolution |
Rotation |
Radius |
|
29.46 Earth years |
10.2 Earth hours |
60,268 km |
|
Distance From the Sun |
Mass |
Density |
|
1,426,725,400 km |
568.51 x 1027 grams |
0.70 gm/cm3 |
|
Mean Cloud Temperature |
Moons |
Atmosphere |
|
-125°C |
22: Pan, Atlas, Prometheus, Pandora, Epimetheus, Janus, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Telesto, Calypso, Dione, Helene, Rhea, Titan, Hyperion, Iapetus, Phoebe, |
hydrogen and helium |
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Rings |
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The first planet known to have rings |
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Saturn's storms may be smaller than Jupiter's, and its core temperatures cooler, but its rings far surpass Jupiter's in size and splendor.
They're a quarter of a million kilometers wide, but only one and a half kilometers thick. They're made of water ice and ice-covered rock, and may be the remains of moons or asteroids smashed to pieces by Saturn's gravity.
Voyager flew by Saturn's large moon titan, whose nitrogen atmosphere is tinged reddish-brown with methane and what may be organic molecules... but for Voyager this smog obscured the ocean some think may lie below.
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WANT
TO LEARN MORE?
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Missions: • Cassini and Huygens |
Recent Articles: • 4 New Moons of Saturn Said Discovered, Bring Total to 22 |
Additional Links: • JPL's Solar System Exploration • The Nine Planets • Views of the Solar System • Windows to the Universe |
