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The Three Properties of the Planet Saturn

The planet Saturn, named for the Roman god of agriculture, is the sixth planet from the sun. Saturn orbits between Jupiter and Uranus, about 1 billion miles from the sun. This large gaseous body has some unique properties, many of which were discovered during the Cassini space missions. The first Cassini mission began in June of 2008 and, as of 2011, the Cassini missions are expected to continue until 2017.

Size
- Saturn is 75,000 miles in diameter and about 9.4 times the size of Earth. It is the second largest planet in the solar system after its neighbor Jupiter. It has the lowest average density of any planet in the solar system because of its loosely packed composition of gasses, with a density only seven tenths that of water. It takes 11 Earth hours for Saturn to rotate one day and 29.5 Earth years for Saturn to orbit the sun.
Composition
- Saturn is composed of 88 percent molecular hydrogen and 11 percent helium gas with trace amounts of water, methane, ammonia and rock particles. While much of the planet is gaseous it is suspected to have a hot, rocky core that can reach temperatures of 22,000 degrees Fahrenheit. A low layer of liquid hydrogen surrounds this core. The heat coming from Saturn's core actually releases more energy than the planet absorbs from the sun.
Rings
- Saturn hosts a series of rings, which orbit the planet containing water, ice and small rock particles. These elements range from dust-sized to pieces that are a few yards long. Some pieces are thought to measure as much as a few miles. The rings themselves are 155,000 miles across, but only a few yards thick. These rings are thought to have been formed only a few hundred years ago when an asteroid or comet collided with a now destroyed moon.
Moons
- Saturn has 60 known satellites. Eight of these satellites are classified as large moons including Titan, Rhea, Iapetus, Dione, Tethys, Enceladus, Mimas and Hyperion. Titan is 3,200 miles in diameter and qualifies as the second largest moon in the solar system. Titan has been shown to have a significant atmosphere of nitrogen and methane. Meanwhile the moon Enceladus received press in 2008 when scientists discovered ice crystal patterns spreading from its south polar surface, which may indicate the moon can support life.

Astronomy