150+ Interesting Facts About Saturn

Facts About Saturn: 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 only has one-eighth the average density of Earth; however, with its larger volume, Saturn is over 95 times more massive.

Unbelievable Facts About Saturn Planet

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun.
The yellow and gold stripes that can be seen on the planet are the result of constant winds.
Saturn is the only planet that rotates around itself faster than around its orbit.
Another interesting fact is that Saturn is 13,000 km (8,000 miles) wider in the equator than between the poles.
The spacecraft first visited the planet in 1979.
One year on this planet equals to 30 years on Earth
Every 14-15 years you can see the edges of the rings of Saturn due to the inclination of the orbit.
You can only see the moon Iapetus, when it is on a certain side of the planet.
In 2017, scientists got the full seasonal data on Saturn (each season lasts more than 7 years at Saturn).
The planet has 63 satellites.
Saturn is the second largest planet in the Solar System.
Saturn’s moon Titan is a very noisy place. The sound of the wind on Titan is intensified because Titan’s thick air conducts sound waves so well.
Saturn’s nearest moon takes just 12 hours to circle the planet. Its farthest moon takes more than three Earth years.
You can see Saturn through a telescope.
Scientists have not found out when its rings started their formation.
The total width of the rings is 137,000,000 kilometers (85,127,853 miles).
Saturn’s satellites mostly consist of ice
Saturn’s rings have bright and dark sides. At the same time, on Earth, we see only bright sides.
Saturn has a satellite Titan, which in turn is the second largest in the universe.
The interplanetary station Cassini was in the orbit of Saturn for almost 20 years (1997-2017). Total spacecraft Cassini’s Mission Time: 19 years, 11 months, 0 days, 3 Hours, 12 Minutes and 46 Seconds.

Amazing Facts About Saturn Planet

This planet mostly consists of gases and practically does not have a solid surface.
Furthermore, scientists recorded the lowest temperature in the whole Solar system exactly on this planet.
When the seasons change, the planet changes its color.
Saturn’s rings sometimes disappear. The fact is that you can see only the edges of the rings that are hard to notice when they are inclined.
There are two types of satellites of this planet – regular and irregular.
There are only 23 regular satellites to date, and they rotate in orbits located near Saturn.
Irregular satellites rotate on the outstretched orbits of the planet.
Some scientists believe that this planet has recently captured irregular moons, since they are located far from it.
Satellite Iapetus (Japetus) is the oldest in this planet.
Satellite Tethys (Saturn’s fifth largest moon) differs by its huge craters.
Saturn is recognized as the most beautiful planet of the Solar System.
Some astronomers suggest that there is life on one of the moons of the planet, which is called Enceladus.
The surface temperature of the planet is – 173 ℃ (- 280 °F).
The temperature of the planet’s core reaches 11,700 ℃ (21,000 °F).
The closest neighbor of Saturn is Jupiter
Gravity on this planet is 10.44 m/s2 (34.3 ft/s2), while on Earth it is 9.80665 m/s2 (32.1737 ft/s2).
The most remote moon from Saturn is Phoebe, which is located at a distance of 12,952 thousand kilometers (8,048 thousand) miles.
The mission in the ESA called Herschel discovered at once two moons of Saturn, such as Mimmas and Etzelad. That happened in 1789.
The spacecraft Cassini discovered at once four moons of this planet: Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys and Dion.
The speed of the orbit is 9.69 km / s (15.59 miles per second).
The distance from Saturn to Earth is 1.2 billion kilometers (746 million miles).
The mass of Saturn exceeds the mass of our planet by more than 95 times.
In order to get from Saturn to the Sun you have to overcome only 1430 million km (891 million miles).
Meanwhile, scientists named the rings of the planet in alphabetical order, and in the order in which they were discovered.
Hence, the main rings are A, B and C.
One of the satellites of this planet, Iapetus, has an interesting structure. From one side it is black as velvet, from another it is white as snow.

Facts About Saturn Planet For Kids

Voltaire was the first one who mentioned Saturn in literature in 1752.
The first cosmic velocity of the planet is 35.5 km / s (22 mps)
Such planets as Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune as well as Saturn have rings. However, all scientists and astronomers have agreed that only the rings of Saturn are unusual.
It is interesting that the word “Saturn” in English has the same root with the word “Saturday”.
The density of Saturn is only 0.687 g/cm3 (0.0248 lb/cu in), while the Earth has a density of 5.514 g/cm3 (0.1992 lb/cu in).
Saturn rotates so fast (6,200 miles per hour) that the planet bulges at its equator and its poles are flat. It is the flattest (oblate) planet in the solar system. In fact, Saturn rotates faster than any other planet except for Jupiter.
Many of Saturn’s moons are named after the Titans, the giant brothers and sisters of the god Saturn. Others are named after Inuit, French, and Northern European giants.
In addition to the rings, it is customary in astronomy to separate the gaps between them, which also have names.
It is accepted to divide in addition to the main rings, those that consist of dust.
In 2004, when the sophisticated spacecraft Cassini flew for the first time between the rings F and G, it received more than 100,000 strokes with micrometeorites.
According to the new model, Saturn’s rings were formed as a result of the destruction of moons.
The youngest Saturn’s moon is Helene, which was discovered in 1980.
Besides, the wind speed on this planet sometimes reaches 1,800 km / h (1,118 mph).
This is the windiest planet, because it is due to its rapid rotation and internal heat.
Saturn is the complete opposite of our planet
Saturn has its own core, which consists of iron, ice and nickel.
The rings of this planet are more than a kilometer in width (more than 0.62 mile).
Furthermore, if you put Saturn down in water, it can float in it, because its density is 2 times lower than the density of water.
Besides, you can see the northern lights on Saturn.
The name of the planet comes from the name of the Roman god of agriculture.
The planet’s rings reflect more light than its disk.
The shape of the clouds above this planet resembles a hexagon.
Saturn’s magnetic axis is inclined like the Earth’s dipole.
At the north pole of Saturn, there are strange clouds that resemble a black vortex.
The first spacecraft that visited Saturn was Pioneer11, followed by Voyager 1 and Voyager-2 in a year.
In Indian astronomy, Saturn is commonly called Shani (शनि, Śani), as one of the nine celestial bodies.

100+ Facts About Saturn Planet

The rings of Saturn in the story of Isaac Asimov with the title “The Path of the Martian”, become the main source of water for the Martian colony.
In the Japanese cartoon “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon “, the planet Saturn personifies a female warrior of death and rebirth.
The weight of the planet is 5.6834×1026 kg (1.2530×1027 lb).
Johannes Kepler while translating Galileo’s conclusions about Saturn made mistakes and decided that he had discovered two moons of Mars, instead of the rings of Saturn. Confusion was resolved only 250 years later.
The total mass of the rings is estimated to be about 3 × 1019kg (6.6 × 1019 lbs).
The geysers on Enceladus not only feed the rings around Saturn but also may contain “ingredients for life.” Only two other outer solar system objects have known active eruptions: Neptune’s moon Triton and Jupiter’s moon Io, which are believed to erupt nitrogen and sulfur, respectively.
Saturn’s moon Titan is the second-largest moon in the solar system. Only Jupiter’s moon Ganymede (named after one of Zeus’ lovers) is larger. Titan is even bigger than Mercury.
Today, the word “saturnine” means gloomy, sullen, or sluggish—most likely as an allusion to Saturn, one of the slowest moving planets.
Saturn is called a “naked eye” planet because it can be seen without a telescope or binoculars. Saturn is often the third brightest planet in the night sky and has a yellowish color that does not twinkle. Unlike stars, planets like Saturn do not twinkle because they are much closer to Earth than stars.
Future missions to Saturn include the Titan Saturn System Mission (TSSM), which will explore Saturn and its moons Titan and Enceladus. With a cost of $2.5 billion and estimated launch in 2020, the mission includes circumnavigating Titan with a hot air balloon.
Nowadays, the most heated and zealous disputes between scientists happen just because of the hexagon that arose on the surface of Saturn.
Many astronomers believe that Saturn, as one of the most massive planets, influenced the structure of the solar system. Due to gravitational attraction, it is possible that Saturn rejected Uranus and Neptune.
Even more, some so-called “dust” (icy particles) on the rings of Saturn reaches the size of the house.
Because Saturn spins on a tilt, it has seasons. Summer on Saturn lasts about eight Earth years.
Saturn’s rings are very large and wide, but they are also very thin. In fact, their thickness is less than the length of a football field. For comparison, if Saturn were the size of a basketball, its rings would only be about 1/250 the thickness of a human hair.
Saturn’s rings are made from billions of chunks of rock and ice, ranging in size from a grain of sand to pieces as large as a house. They have a mysterious reddish “contaminant” that might be rust or the same organic material found in red vegetables on Earth.
Saturn is not the only planet with rings. Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune also have rings, although they are much fainter and less spectacular than Saturn’s.
Scientists believe that Saturn is approximately -350° F (-212° C). The coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth is -129° F (-89° C).
At its farthest point from the Sun (aphelion), Saturn is approximately 940 million miles (1.51 billion km.) away. When it is at its closest (perihelion), Saturn is about 840 million miles (1.35 billion km.) from the Sun. On average, Saturn is about 891 million miles (1.4 billion km.) from the Sun. Earth, on average, is 92,935,700 miles (150 million km.) away.
Saturn has seven main rings that consist of thousands of smaller rings. The ring farthest from the planet, the E ring, is about 180,000 miles (300,000 km.) across. In contrast, the F ring is about 20-300 miles (30-500 km.) wide.

150 Facts About Saturn Planet in English

Saturn’s rings seem to disappear about every 14 years. Scientists believe that the rings seem to disappear when Saturn is tilted directly in line with Earth.
Though Saturn’s rings weren’t discovered until the 1600s, some scholars theorize ancient cultures may have known about them. For example, the Maori in New Zealand have historically referred to Saturn as Parearau, an ancient name that means “surrounded by a headband.”
They found a source of light, water and organic substances on Enceladus.
Stargazers believe that more than 40% of the satellites of the solar system rotate exactly around this planet.
Scientists suppose that Saturn was formed more than 4.6 billion years ago.
In 1990, scientists observed the largest storm in the entire universe, which was just happening on Saturn and got the name as the Great White Spot (or Great White Oval).
Saturn is recognized as the lightest planet in the entire Solar System.
The parameters of gravity on Saturn and Earth are different. For example, if the Earth’s mass is 80 kg (13 st), then on Saturn it will reach 72.8 kg (11 st).
A day on Earth is 24 hours. A day on Saturn is 10 hours 39 minutes.
Winds in Saturn’s atmosphere travel up to 1,100 miles (1,800 km.) per hour, much faster than those on Jupiter. The strongest tornadoes on Earth have reached speeds of only about 300 miles (483 km.) per hour.
Storms on Saturn can last for months or even years. A long-lived 2004 storm on Saturn, named the “Dragon Storm,” created mega-lightning 1,000 times more powerful than lightning on Earth.
In early 2010, amateur astronomers spotted a massive ammonia blizzard raging on Saturn. The monster storm is five times larger than “Snowmageddon,” the snowstorm that shut down Washington D.C. in February 2010.
The Assyrians, who lived in modern-day Iraq, were the first to record sighting Saturn in 700 B.C. They called the planet the Star of Ninib, after the Assyrian sun god of spring.
In astrology, Saturn is the opposite of Jupiter. Whereas Jupiter is associated with expansion, Saturn is associated with contraction. Saturn is concerned with boundaries, practicality, reality, and building/conforming to social structures.
As the seventh day of the week, Saturday is named after Saturn, the farthest of the seven objects in the solar system known in ancient times.
Discovered in 1789 by William Herschel, Saturn’s moon Enceladus (named after the mythological giant) has geysers that erupt icy particles, water vapor, and organic compounds. It is the shiniest object in the solar system because its icy surface reflects most of the light it receives.
The planet Saturn is named after the Roman god of farming, Saturn, who was also the father of the Roman god Jupiter. The planet’s symbol is a sickle, a tool that belonged to the Roman god of harvest and was also the weapon Cronos used to castrate and depose his father, Uranus.
Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is the only known moon to have a substantial atmosphere, which is 370 miles deep, 10 times thicker than Earth’s atmosphere. Conditions on Titan may resemble ancient Earth conditions, though at a much lower temperature.
Many ancient astronomers believed that the rings of Saturn were its satellites. Galileo was the first who told about this.
The scientists first discovered the rings of Saturn in 1610.
Space ships have been on Saturn only 4 times.
It is still unknown how long a day lasts on this planet. However, many scientists assume that it is just over 10 hours.
More than any other planet in our solar system, Saturn’s weather is determined by conditions deep in the planet rather than by the Sun. This is partly because Saturn is so far away from the Sun and generates heat internally.
Traveling to Saturn by car at 70 miles (117 km.) per hour would take 1,292 years when Saturn is closest to Earth. It would take 1,595 years when Saturn is at its farthest.
Many astronomers consider Saturn the most beautiful planet in the solar system because of its stunning rings. In fact, Saturn’s nickname is “the jewel of the solar system.”
The average temperature of Saturn is -178° C. While there are some temperature differences between poles and the equator, most of the differences occur horizontally. This is because Saturn’s heat (which can reach up to 11,700° C near the core) does not come from the Sun, but from its interior.
The atmospheric pressure on Saturn is over 100 times greater than the Earth’s atmospheric pressure. The pressure is so powerful that it squeezes gas into liquid. It would crush any human-made spacecraft.
Saturn gives off more than twice as much heat as it receives from the Sun. Scientists believe Saturn generates heat when helium sinks slowly through liquid hydrogen deep inside the planet. In fact, the temperature at Saturn’s core is estimated to be about 21,150° F (11,700° C), which is almost as hot as the surface of the Sun.
On April 14, 2010, NASA’s Cassini orbiter captured images of lightning on Saturn, which allowed scientists to create the first movie showing lightning flashes on another planet. Lightning is common on Saturn, though the bolts run only from cloud to cloud, unlike the cloud-to-ground lightning on Earth.
Saturn’s ring system is very wide, spreading out over a distance of 175,000 miles (282,000 km.). If you traveled that distance from Earth, you would be more than halfway to the moon.

Scientific Facts About Saturn Planet

Saturn is 74,898 miles (120,537 km.) wide, nearly 10 times wider than Earth. Approximately 750 Earths could fit inside of Saturn.
The first spacecraft to fly by Saturn was Pioneer 11, which blasted off in 1973 and arrived at Saturn in 1979. Voyagers 1 and 2 also completed fly-bys in 1980 and 1981. Voyager 1 is now the farthest human-made object in space.
Nearly 1,600 Saturns could fit inside the Sun.
A year on Earth is 365.256 days. A year on Saturn is 10,759.22 days.
On July 1, 2004, the Cassini-Huygens was the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn. Launched on October 15, 1997, it traveled over 2,000,000,000 miles at a speed of 70,700 miles per hour before it reached the ringed planet. Its mission has been extended to 2012.
Though it was once thought that they formed around the time of the dinosaurs, information gathered from the Cassini probe suggests that Saturn has had its rings throughout its history.
Only Jupiter has more moons (63) than Saturn (61), not counting Saturn’s hundreds of “moonlets.”
Because Saturn is so far from the Sun, the Sun would appear 10 times smaller viewed from Saturn than it does from Earth. On average, Earth receives 90 times more sunlight than Saturn.
The fifth-century B.C. text Surya Siddhanta approximated Saturn’s diameter at 73,580 miles. The calculation was only 1% off from the currently accepted estimate of 74,580 miles.
Galileo Galilei was the first person to see Saturn through a telescope, in 1610. He thought the rings looked like “ears” and were “handles” or moons. In a secret anagram to his scientist friend Kepler, Galileo wrote he had discovered that the “highest planet” was “triple-bodied.”
Saturn is the second-largest planet in our solar system after Jupiter, which is about 20% larger than Saturn. Earth is the fifth-largest planet in our solar system.
Scientists speculate that Saturn’s rings may disappear in 50 million years. Saturn’s gravitational pull will either suck the rings into the planet, or the rings will dissolve into space.
Once, scientists had stated that there had been needles in the rings. However, later it turned out that these were only electrically charged layers of particles.
The size of the polar radius on the planet Saturn is about 54,364 km (33,780 miles).
Therefore, equatorial radius of the planet is 60,268 km (37,449 miles).
Another interesting fact is that two moons of Saturn: Pan and Atlas have the shape of a flying saucer.
Even more, many scientists have argued repeatedly that the core of Saturn is much larger and more massive than the core of Earth; however, no one has not yet mentioned the exact figures.
On Saturn, there are seasons (as well as on the planet Earth).
A “season” on Saturn lasts more than 7 years.
Planets move more slowly the farther they are away from the Sun, so Saturn’s average velocity of 6 miles (9.64 km.) per second seems much slower than Earth’s 18.5 miles (30 km.) per second.
Saturn is the least dense planet in the solar system, and if there were a body of water large enough to hold Saturn, the planet would float. In contrast, Earth and Mercury would sink the fastest.
The planet Saturn has a shape of an oblate ball. The fact is that Saturn rotates so fast around its axis that it flattens itself.
Saturn is the planet with the lowest density in the entire Solar System.
Saturn has its own symbol that is a sickle.
Saturn consists of water, hydrogen, helium, methane.
The magnetic field of Saturn extends by 1,000,000 kilometers (621,371 miles).
The rings of this planet consist of pieces of ice and dust.

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