What makes Saturn unique?
Saturn is a unique planet because of the disc-shaped ring system surrounding it. Galileo first observed the disc in 1610, but thought that it looked more like two large moons because his telescope was not very powerful. In 1655, another astronomer named Huygens was the first to describe the disc as a ring that surrounded, but did not touch, the planet Saturn.
What are Saturn's geographical features?
Because it's one of the Solar Systems most interesting planets!
- Saturn has a diameter of 72,376 miles (116,464 km) making it the second largest planet in the Solar System.
- One day on Saturn is only 10 hours and 33 minutes, but takes 29 years to revolve around the Sun.
- The atmosphere is made of Molecular Hydrogen and Helium.
- The surface is made of Hydrogen and Helium making it a Gas composition.
What is the sixth planet from the Sun?
Surface temp. Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; however, with its larger volume, Saturn is over 95 times more massive.
Is there a hexagon on Saturn?
The second largest planet of our solar system, the gas giant Saturn (this is the one with the giant rings) has a hexagon on its north pole. Okay, now that we've taken a little bit of time to absorb this fact our minds immediately spring into motion.
See more
What is the shape of the Saturn?
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. Its oblate shape is apparent even in a small telescope.
What is the shape of Uranus?
oblate spheroidAt the poles, Uranus has a radius of 15,517 miles (24,973 km), but at the equator, it expands to 15,882 miles (25,559 km). This bulge gives Uranus a shape known as an oblate spheroid.
What shape is Saturn's rings?
The concept that Saturn's rings are made up of a series of tiny ringlets can be traced to Pierre-Simon Laplace, although true gaps are few – it is more correct to think of the rings as an annular disk with concentric local maxima and minima in density and brightness.
Is Saturn flat or round?
Saturn rotates about once every 10.5 hours. The planet's high-speed spin causes Saturn to bulge at its equator and flatten at its poles. The planet is around 75,000 miles (120,000 kilometers) across at its equator, and 68,000 miles (109,000 km) from pole to pole.
What planet is green?
It is the second least dense planet; Saturn is the least dense of all. Uranus gets its blue-green color from methane gas in the atmosphere.
What color is Neptune?
blue colorThe predominant blue color of the planet is a result of the absorption of red and infrared light by Neptune's methane atmosphere. Clouds elevated above most of the methane absorption appear white, while the very highest clouds tend to be yellow-red as seen in the bright feature at the top of the right-hand image.
What planet is blue green?
UranusWhy is Uranus the “Blue-Green Planet”?
Does Saturn have 7 rings?
The seven main rings are labeled in the order in which they were discovered. From the planet outward, they are D, C, B, A, F, G and E. The D ring is very faint and closest to Saturn. The main rings are A, B and C.
Did Saturn lost its ring?
Saturn's famous rings could be the aftermath of a moon that was ripped apart by the planet's gravity, according to scientists. The research, based on data from the final stage of Nasa's Cassini mission, suggests that Saturn may have been ringless for almost all of its 4.5bn-year existence.
Which planet is round in shape?
Mercury and Venus are the roundest of all. They are nearly perfect spheres, like marbles. But some planets aren't quite so perfectly round. Saturn and Jupiter are bit thicker in the middle.
Is Saturn a perfect sphere?
Saturn is actually not a spherical planet. Most of the gas planets, in fact, flatten slightly and become oblate due to their rapid rotation. This characteristic is most pronounced on Saturn, where the equatorial diameter can be as much as 10% longer than its polar diameter.
Is Saturn a round?
The planet Saturn is very oblate – non-spherical – because it rotates very fast. Because of gravity, all planets are round, and because they rotate at different rates, some have fatter equators than their poles.
Is Uranus perfectly round?
They aren't perfect spheres, but they are rounder than Saturn and Jupiter. Earth is 0.3% thicker in the middle, and Mars is 0.6% thicker in the middle. Since they're not even one whole percentage point thicker in the middle, it's safe to say they're very round. As for Uranus and Neptune, they're in between.
Why does Uranus look like that?
Uranus is made of water, methane, and ammonia fluids above a small rocky center. Its atmosphere is made of hydrogen and helium like Jupiter and Saturn, but it also has methane. The methane makes Uranus blue.
Can humans live on Uranus?
The problem is that the pressures inside Uranus are enormous at those temperatures, and would crush life. The other problem is that life on Earth requires sunlight to provide energy. There's no process inside Uranus, like volcanism on Earth, that would give life inside the planet a form of energy.
What would it look like on Uranus?
When we look at Uranus, we see the blue-green color that seems to come from the surface of Uranus. This color is light from the Sun reflected off Uranus' surface. The atmosphere of Uranus contains hydrogen and helium, and most importantly, it has relatively large amounts of methane.
How big is Saturn's core?
In 2004, scientists estimated that the core must be 9–22 times the mass of Earth, which corresponds to a diameter of about 25,000 km.
What is Saturn made of?
Saturn is a gas giant composed predominantly of hydrogen and helium. It lacks a definite surface, though it may have a solid core. Saturn's rotation causes it to have the shape of an oblate spheroid; that is, it is flattened at the poles and bulges at its equator. Its equatorial and polar radii differ by almost 10%: 60,268 km versus 54,364 km. Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune, the other giant planets in the Solar System, are also oblate but to a lesser extent. The combination of the bulge and rotation rate means that the effective surface gravity along the equator, 8.96 m/s2, is 74% of what it is at the poles and is lower than the surface gravity of Earth. However, the equatorial escape velocity of nearly 36 km/s is much higher than that of Earth.
What is the name of the sixth planet in the solar system?
water ( H. 2O) ammonium hydrosulfide ( NH. 4SH) Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth.
Why is Saturn's atmosphere yellow?
Saturn has a pale yellow hue due to ammonia crystals in its upper atmosphere. An electrical current within the metallic hydrogen layer is thought to give rise to Saturn's planetary magnetic field, which is weaker than the Earth's, but which has a magnetic moment 580 times that of Earth due to Saturn's larger size.
How long is the hexagon?
The sides of the hexagon are each about 14,500 km (9,000 mi) long, which is longer than the diameter of the Earth. The entire structure rotates with a period of 10h 39m 24s (the same period as that of the planet's radio emissions) which is assumed to be equal to the period of rotation of Saturn's interior.
Why does Saturn's rotation rate vary?
This variance may be caused by geyser activity on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The water vapor emitted into Saturn's orbit by this activity becomes charged and creates a drag upon Saturn's magnetic field , slowing its rotation slightly relative to the rotation of the planet.
When was Saturn first observed?
History of observation and exploration. Galileo Galilei first observed the rings of Saturn in 1610. The observation and exploration of Saturn can be divided into three phases. The first phase is ancient observations (such as with the naked eye ), before the invention of modern telescopes.
What color are the rings on Saturn?
A second, smaller vortex pops out in teal at the lower right of the image. The rings of Saturn appear in vivid blue at the top right. “No one really knows what drives it,” said Scott Edgington, deputy project scientist for the Cassini mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
How long does it take Saturn to orbit the Sun?
Saturn is nearly 10 times farther from the sun than Earth and takes far longer to orbit the sun – about 29 Earth years. Saturn’s axis of rotation is tilted like Earth’s, and so it too has seasons, but the longer year produces seasons that last more than seven Earth years each.
Why is Cassini so close to Saturn?
This is partly because Cassini observed from hundreds of times farther from Saturn than most Earth-observing spacecraft are from our planet. Lightning is also easier to see in the dark, and Saturn’s night side isn’t very dark. Its rings reflect far more light onto Saturn’s night side than a full moon does at Earth.
What color is the storm at Saturn's north pole?
This spectacular, vertigo inducing, false-color image from NASA's Cassini mission highlights the storms at Saturn's north pole. The angry eye of a hurricane-like storm appears dark red while the fast-moving hexagonal jet stream framing it is a yellowish green.
Why does Saturn's jet stream flow?
On Earth, mountain ranges and other features of the planet’s surface cause jet streams to bend and kink, but Saturn has no such obstacles jutting into its atmosphere, so the jet stream just keeps flowing, orderly and hexagonal. But questions still remain, Edgington said.
What did Cassini study?
But over more than a decade orbiting the gas giant, Cassini studied the composition and temperature of Saturn’s upper atmosphere as the seasons changed there. Cassini also provided up-close observations of Saturn's exotic storms and jet streams, and Saturn’s radio and plasma waves, which can’t be detected from Earth.
How many seasons does Saturn have?
Seven-Year Seasons. Every 28 to 30 Earth years, Saturn hosts a megastorm. Birthed in December 2010, the storm was as vast as any ever observed at the ringed planet. Raging for close to two-thirds of an Earth year, it eventually wrapped all the way around Saturn and spanned 190,000 miles (300,000 kilometers).
What is the shape of Saturn's polar radius?
All of the gas giants in the solar system bear the same shape of an oblate spheroid , but on Saturn the condition is the most pronounced, with the polar radius (33,780 miles, or 54,364 km) only about 90 percent that of the equatorial radius ...
How dense is Saturn?
The mean density of Saturn is 0.687 grams per cubic centimeter, making it the only planet in the solar system less dense than water. The mass of the ringed planet is 5.68 x 10 26 kilograms, 95 times the mass of Earth.
How many rings does Saturn have?
The five rings are composed primarily of chunks of water-ice, mixed with pieces of rocks. They average a thickness of 66 feet (20 meters). [ Amazing Video of Saturn Stitched Together from Old NASA Photos]
How far away was Saturn in 1982?
Saturn and three moons, Tethys, Dione and Rhea, seen by a Voyager spacecraft on August 4, 1982, from a distance of 13 million miles. (Image credit: NASA/JP)
How far is Saturn's ring?
Balanced around the equator, the rings start about 4,120 miles (6,630 km) out from the planet and extend to a distance of 262,670 miles (422,730 km), or eight times the radius of the planet.
Which planet is bigger, Jupiter or Saturn?
Saturn, the sixth planet in the solar system, is the second largest. Only Jupiter is larger, weighing in just shy of three times its mass. Saturn's beautiful rings, visible even with an inexpensive telescope, make it a favorite in the night sky.
How far would it take to walk around Saturn?
A walk around the equator of Saturn would carry you 227,349 miles (365,882 kilometers). That's over nine times the distance a similar journey around Earth would take you. Of course, such a walk would be a challenge, since Saturn's composition is almost completely hydrogen and helium, and lacks a solid surface.
How big is the vortice on the hexagon?
The biggest of these vortices, seen near the lower right corner of the hexagon and appearing whitish, spans about 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers), approximately twice the size of the largest hurricane on Earth.
What color are the hexagons?
To human eyes, the hexagon and north pole would appear in tones of gold and blue. See PIA14945 for a still image of the area in natural color.
What is the difference between the jet stream and the hexagon?
The differences in this version of the movie, in which different wavelengths of light from ultraviolet to visible to infrared have been assigned colors, show a distinct contrast between the types of atmospheric particles inside and outside the hexagon. Inside the hexagon there are fewer large haze particles and a concentration of small haze particles, while outside the hexagon, the opposite is true. The jet stream that makes up the hexagon seems to act like a barrier , which results in something like the "ozone hole" in the Antarctic.
What happens inside a hexagon?
Inside the hexagon there are fewer large haze particles and a concentration of small haze particles, while outside the hexagon, the opposite is true. The jet stream that makes up the hexagon seems to act like a barrier, which results in something like the "ozone hole" in the Antarctic.
How many frames are there in the Cassini movie?
In late 2012, Cassini began making swings over Saturn's poles, giving it better views of the hexagon. The eight frames of the movie were captured over 10 hours on Dec.10, 2012. Each of the eight frames consists of 16 map-projected images (four per color filter, and four filters per frame) so the movie combines data from 128 images total.
Why is the hexagon so high resolution?
High-resolution views of the hexagon have only recently become possible because of the changing of the seasons at Saturn and changes in the Cassini spacecraft's orbit. The north pole was dark when Cassini first arrived in July 2004.
What is the shape of the jet that flows around Saturn's north pole?
Small perturbations in the jet — the kind one might expect from jostling with other air currents — made it meander into a hexagonal shape. Moreover, this simulated hexagon spun around its center at speeds close to that of the real one.
What is the best scenario for Saturn's hexagon?
The scenario that best fits Saturn's hexagon involves shallow jets at the cloud level, study team members said. Winds below the cloud level apparently help keep the shape of the hexagon sharp and control the rate at which the hexagon drifts.
How wide is the hexagon?
The structure, which contains a churning storm at its center, is about 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) wide, and thermal images show that it reaches roughly 60 miles (100 km) down into Saturn's atmosphere. [ Photos: Saturn's Weird Hexagonal Vortex]
When was the hexagonal cloud discovered?
The bizarre hexagonal cloud pattern was first discovered in 1988 by scientists reviewing data from NASA's Voyager flybys of Saturn in 1980 and 1981, but its existence was not confirmed until NASA's Cassini spacecraft observed the ringed planet up-close years later.
Overview
Physical characteristics
Saturn is a gas giant composed predominantly of hydrogen and helium. It lacks a definite surface, though it is likely to have a solid core. Saturn's rotation causes it to have the shape of an oblate spheroid; that is, it is flattened at the poles and bulges at its equator. Its equatorial and polar radii differ by almost 10%: 60,268 km versus 54,364 km. Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune, the other giant planets in t…
Name and symbol
Saturn is named after the Roman god of wealth and agriculture and father of Jupiter. Its astronomical symbol () has been traced back to the Greek Oxyrhynchus Papyri, where it can be seen to be a Greek kappa-rho with a horizontal stroke, as an abbreviation for Κρονος (Cronus), the Greek name for the planet (). It later came to look like a lower-case Greek eta, with the cross added at the top in the 16th century to Christianize this pagan symbol.
Orbit and rotation
The average distance between Saturn and the Sun is over 1.4 billion kilometers (9 AU). With an average orbital speed of 9.68 km/s, it takes Saturn 10,759 Earth days (or about 29+1⁄2 years) to finish one revolution around the Sun. As a consequence, it forms a near 5:2 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter. The elliptical orbit of Saturn is inclined 2.48° relative to the orbital plane of the Earth. The perihelion and aphelion distances are, respectively, 9.195 and 9.957 AU, on averag…
Natural satellites
Saturn has 83 known moons, 53 of which have formal names. In addition, there is evidence of dozens to hundreds of moonlets with diameters of 40–500 meters in Saturn's rings, which are not considered to be true moons. Titan, the largest moon, comprises more than 90% of the mass in orbit around Saturn, including the rings. Saturn's second-largest moon, Rhea, may have a tenuous ring syste…
History of observation and exploration
The observation and exploration of Saturn can be divided into three phases. The first phase is ancient observations (such as with the naked eye), before the invention of modern telescopes. The second phase began in the 17th century, with telescopic observations from Earth, which improved over time. The third phase is visitation by space probes, in orbit or on flyby. In the 21st century, tele…
Observation
Saturn is the most distant of the five planets easily visible to the naked eye from Earth, the other four being Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter. (Uranus, and occasionally 4 Vesta, are visible to the naked eye in dark skies.) Saturn appears to the naked eye in the night sky as a bright, yellowish point of light. The mean apparent magnitude of Saturn is 0.46 with a standard deviation of 0.34. Most o…
See also
• Gas giant
• Stats of planets in the Solar System