Saturn

CHARACTERISTICS

- It is the sixth planet of the Solar System but it is the second in length and volume.
- It is a gaseous planet and very light. It is the most flattend planet.
- Its color is yellow.
- Its most abundant component is hydrogen.
- Its mass is 95 times larger than the Earth's.
- It has between 20 and 30 moons, the largest is Titan. It was the first discovered moon of Saturn and it has ice volcanoes.
- It is the most luminous and one of the most reflecting stars in the Solar System.

MAIN DATA

- Distance from the sun: approximatly 1,430 millions of kilometers.

- Diameter: approximatly 116,500 kilometers.

- Day duration: 10 hours, 39 minutes (13 hours, 21 minutes less than the Earth's).

- Year duration: 29.5 years (28.5 years more than the Earth's).

RINGS

- Its rings are made up of fragments of rock and ice. Each fragment is between 1 centimeter and 10 kilometers in length.

- Its rings can be seen with a small telescope. A larger telescope shows that there are multiple rings.

- The rings are very wide (150,000 miles in diameter), but very thin (only a few hundred meters).

- Saturn's rings spin 15 times faster than a bullet: about 4,800 km per hour.

FUN FACTS

- Saturn's name comes from the Roman god of agriculture, who was the father of the Roman god Jupiter.
- Four space missions have reached Saturn: Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and Cassini.
- It has less density than water, so it could float on the oceans.
- It could contain more than 700 Earths. The Sun could contain 1,600 Saturns.

 - The latest discovery is a giant hexagon around the north pole, which is approximately 250,000 kilometers long.