SATURN

Saturn is 6th from the Sun. Only Jupiter is larger.

Saturn gets it name from the Roman God of Agriculture.

Saturn has seven thin, flat rings around it. The rings consist of numerous narrow ringlets, which are made up of ice particles.

Jupiter, Neptune, and Uranus also have rings, although they are not as reflective of light as Saturn’s.

Saturn's diameter at its equator is about 10 times that of Earth.

More than 700 Earths would fit inside Saturn.

Saturn was the farthest planet from Earth that the ancient astronomers knew about.

Saturn travels around the sun in an elliptical orbit. (eccentricity = Its distance from the sun varies by about 100 million miles between aphelion and perihelion.

The planet takes about 10,759 Earth days, or about 29 1/2 Earth years, to go around the sun.

It is tilted 27°, creating seasons. Each season lasts about 7 1/2 Earth years on Saturn.

Saturn has a very fast rotation (10 hours 39 minutes)… making Jupiter the only faster rotating planet. Saturn’s diameter is 8,000 miles larger measured across the equator than from pole to pole.

Saturn is a giant ball of gas. It may have a hot solid inner core of iron and rocky material. The outer core probably consists of ammonia, methane, and water.

A layer of highly compressed, liquid metallic hydrogen surrounds the outer core. Above this layer is hydrogen and helium in a syrup-like state. Pressure changes allow the hydrogen and helium become gaseous nearer to the planet's surface atmosphere.

The temperature at the top of Saturn's clouds averages -285° F

The planet gives off about 2 1/2 times as much heat as it receives from the sun. May be due to chemical reactions in the planet's interior. Infrared:

Saturn is about 95 times as massive as Earth. The density, however is only .7 g/cm3 which means Saturn would FLOAT!

Saturn's rings were discovered in the early 1600's by Italian astronomer Galileo. Galileo could not see the rings clearly with his small telescope, and thought they were nearby moons.

In 1973, USA launched a space probe “Pioneer-Saturn” to study both Saturn and Jupiter. It made it there by 1979 and sent us back our first decent pictures of these planets.

1997, USA launched the Cassini probe to study Saturn, its rings, and its satellites. The probe orbited Saturn from 2004 until it’s intentional death in September 2017.

Saturn has 62 moons The largest is Titan. (diameter larger than the planet Mercury) Titan is one of the few satellites in the solar system known to have an atmosphere.

Titan

Cassini carried a probe called Huygens. Huygens descended to the surface of Titan in 2005.

Huygens was only designed to study the atmosphere, but sent images and data from the surface for 90 minutes! Parachute Artist Rendition

Huygens was the first “outer solar system” landing. It remains the most distant landing of any man made craft. First image received from Huygens as it descended. Shows drainage channels (rivers) flowing to a possible shoreline.

This is the largest lake discovered.

Titan is the only object (other than Earth) in the solar system that is believed to have liquid on the surface! The liquid is not H20. Liquid methane, ethane, propane, and other hydrocarbons make up the liquid.

Artist’s rendition of Titan

What did we learn about Titan? The “sand dune” region near the equator has more organics than all of our coal reserves. The lakes hold more than 300 times the volume of Earth’s oil reserves.

Only image ever taken from the SURFACE of an “outer solar system” object!