Saturn
is about as large as Jupiter. (Saturn's diameter is 74,145 miles)
The
planet is a little colder, because it's more distant from the sun.
From
Earth, two rings can be seen. The rings seem continuous from Earth, but
they actually consist of billions of small particles each in an independant
orbit. They range in size from a centimeter to several meters. There are
also a few kilometer-wide objects.
Though
the rings are only a few kilometers thick, they are 250,000 km or more
in diameter. Although they look very impressive, there's very little material
in them. If you would compress a ring to a solid ball, it would be only
100 km in diameter.
The
ring particals are mostly ice, and some rocks with an ice crust.
The
origin of the rings unknown. Maybe the rings were created when the planets
were formed, maybe they are the remains of old satellites which collided
with eachother or the planet.
The
rings and there statistics:
| Name |
Radius
inner |
Radius
outer |
width |
approx.
position |
approx.
mass (kg) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| D-Ring |
60,000 |
72,600 |
12,600 |
(ring) |
|
| Guerin Division |
72,600 |
73,800 |
1,200 |
(divide) |
|
| C-Ring |
73,800 |
91,800 |
18,000 |
(ring) |
1.1e18 |
| Maxwell Division |
91,800 |
92,300 |
500 |
(divide) |
|
| B-Ring |
92,300 |
115,800 |
23,500 |
(ring) |
2.8e19 |
| Cassini Division |
115,800 |
120,600 |
4,800 |
(divide) |
|
| Huygens Gap |
117,200 |
(n/a) |
250-400 |
(subdiv) |
|
| A-Ring |
120,600 |
136,200 |
15,600 |
(ring) |
6.2e18 |
| Keeler Division |
(n/a) |
(n/a) |
230 |
25% |
|
| Encke Minima |
(n/a) |
(n/a) |
5,460 |
29%-53% |
|
| Encke Division |
132,600 |
(n/a) |
325 |
78% |
|
| F-Ring |
141,000 |
(avg) |
(n/a) |
(ring) |
|
| G-Ring |
150,000 |
(avg) |
(n/a) |
(ring) |
1e7? |
| E-Ring |
240,000 |
480,000 |
240,000 |
(ring) |
|
Saturn
has 18 named satellites, Pan, Atlas, Prometheus, Pandora, Epimetheus,
Janus,
Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Telesto, Calypso, Dione, Helene, Rhea,
Titan,
Hyperion, Iapetus and Phoebe.
Saturn
was discovered by galileo in 1610. Galileo noted it's odd appearance, but
couldn't explain it. In 1659 Christiaan Huygens was the first to understand
that it were rings of rocks and ice that gave the planet it's odd shape.
Saturn's
rings were believed to be the only ones in the solar system, until the
rings around Uranus were discovered in 1977.
Saturn
was visited by several spacecraft. The first one was Pioneer 11 in 1979.
Later Voyager 1 and 2. A new spacecraft (Cassini) is on it's way to the
planet now, and will arrive in 2004
Saturn is visibly flattened
(oblate) when viewed through a small telescope; its equatorial and polar
diameters vary by almost 10% (120,536 km vs. 108,728 km). This is the result
of its rapid rotation and fluid state. The other gas planets are also oblate,
but not so much so.
Saturn's composition is 75%
hydrogen and 25% helium with traces of water, methane, ammonia and rock.
Saturn's interior is very similar to Jupiter with a rocky core, a liquid
metallic hydrogen layer and a molecular hydrogen layer. Traces of various
ices are also present. Saturn's interior is hot. The core is 12,000 K and
Saturn radiates more energy then it receives from the sun.
Saturn
rotates around the sun every 29.5 years. The distance to the sun is 887
million miles. The mass of the planet is 5.68e27 kg
The
planet rotates around it's own axis in 10 hours and 14 minutes.
Pictures
of saturn (Click to see the large picture):
These pictures were taken by
NASA
 
|
