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Quick Saturn Facts

Saturn's rings have long been a target for astronomers, with the planet being one of the first things novice stargazers try to look at when they get their initial telescope. The sixth planet from the sun, Saturn is more beautiful to humans than it is hospitable.

Size
- Saturn's diameter is almost 10 times that of Earth's, at 74,898 miles. To put this in perspective, 764 heavenly objects equal to Earth's size would fit inside Saturn if it were a hollow shell.
Rings
- Since 1610 when Galileo first viewed Saturn's rings, they have fascinated people. The rings consist of seven separate divisions, are composed of rocks and ice that orbit the planet and seeing them depend on how Saturn tilts on its axis as they are sometimes at an angle that makes them invisible.
Features
- The rocky core of Saturn has a liquid hydrogen layer above it. The atmosphere of Saturn contains mostly hydrogen with small amounts of helium and traces of methane and ammonia.
Titan
- Saturn has more than 60 moons, none larger than Titan, which has a very thin atmosphere. Titan is bigger than the planet Mercury and is second in size to all the moons in the solar system, with only Ganymede, one of Jupiter's moons, being larger.
Fun Facts
- While the mass of Saturn dwarfs that of the Earth, its gravitational field would only cause a 100-pound man to weigh 108 pounds there. The planet actually has a density that is less than that of water, meaning Saturn would float.

Astronomy