Saturn (planet)

Saturn Orbital characteristics Mean radius 1,426,725,400 km km Eccentricity 0.05415060 Revolution period 29y 167d 6.7h Synodic period 378.1 days Avg. Orbital Speed 9.6724 km/s Inclination 2.48446° Number of satellites 31 Physical characteristics Equatorial diameter 120,536 km Surface area 4.38×1010 km2 Mass 5.688×1026 kg Mean density 0.69 g/cm3 Surface gravity 8.96 m/s2 Rotation period equatorial 10h 13m 59s Rotation period internal 10h 39m 25s Axial tilt 26.73° Albedo 0.47 Escape Speed 35.49 km/s Avg. Cloudtop temp. 93K Surface temp. min mean max 82K 143K N/A K Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 140 kPa Hydrogen >93% Helium >5% Methane 0.2% Water vapor 0.1% Ammonia 0.01% Ethane 0.0005% Phosphine 0.0001%

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. It is a gas giant, the second-largest planet in the solar system after Jupiter. It was named after the Roman god Saturn.

Physical characteristics

Saturn's shape is visibly flattened at the poles and bulging at the equator (an oblate spheroid); its equatorial and polar diameters vary by almost 10% (120,536 km vs. 108,728 km). This is the result of its rapid rotation and fluid state. The other gas planets are also oblate, but not so much so. Saturn is also the least dense of the Solar System's planets with an average specific density of 0.69, significantly less than water. This is only an average value, however; Saturn's upper atmosphere is less dense and its core is considerably more dense than water.

Saturn's interior is similar to Jupiter's, having a rocky core at the center, a liquid metallic hydrogen layer above that, and a molecular hydrogen layer above that. Traces of various ices are also present. Saturn has a very hot interior, reaching 12000 K at the core, and it radiates more energy into space than it receives from the Sun. Most of the extra energy is generated by the Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism (slow gravitational compression), but this alone may not be sufficient to explain Saturn's heat production. An additional proposed mechanism by which Saturn may generate some of its heat is the "raining out" of droplets of helium deep in Saturn's interior, the droplets of helium releasing heat by friction as they fall down through the lighter hydrogen.

Saturn's atmosphere exhibits a banded pattern similar to Jupiter's, but Saturn's bands are much fainter and they're also much wider near the equator. Saturn's cloud patterns were not observed until the Voyager flybys. Since then, however, Earth-based telescopy has improved to the point where regular observations can be made. Saturn exhibits long-lived ovals and other features common on Jupiter; in 1990 the Hubble Space Telescope observed an enormous white cloud near Saturn's equator which was not present during the Voyager encounters and in 1994 another, smaller storm was observed.

The exploration of Saturn

Saturn was first visited by Pioneer 11 in 1979 and later by Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. The Cassini, now on its way, will arrive in 2004.

Saturn's rings

Saturn is probably best known for its famous planetary rings. They were first observed by Galileo Galilei in 1610 with his telescope, but he clearly did not know what to make of it. He wrote to the Grand Duke of Tuscany that "Saturn is not alone but is composed of three, which almost touch one another and never move nor change with respect to one another. They are arranged in a line parallel to the zodiac, and the middle one (Saturn itself) is about three times the size of the lateral ones (actually the edges of the rings)." He also described Saturn has having "ears." In 1612 the plane of the rings was oriented directly at the Earth and the rings appeared to vanish, and then in 1613 they reappeared again, further confusing Galileo.

The riddle of the rings was not solved until 1655 by Christiaan Huygens, using a telescope much more powerful than the ones available to Galileo in his time. Leo Allatius, a theologian at the time, suggested that the ring may be the foreskin of Jesus Christ, ascended into the heavens.

In 1675 Giovanni Cassini determined that Saturn's ring was actually composed of multiple smaller rings with gaps between them; the largest of these gaps was later named the Cassini Division.

The rings can be seen in quite modest modern telescopes or a good pair of binoculars. They are composed of silica rock, iron oxide, and ice particles ranging in size from specks of dust to the size of a small automobile. There are two main theories regarding the origin of Saturn's rings. One theory, originally proposed by Edward Roche in the 19th century, is that the rings were once a moon of Saturn whose orbit decayed until it came close enough to be ripped apart by tidal forces. A variation of this theory is that the moon disintegrated after being struck by a large comet or asteroid. The second theory is that the rings were never part of a moon, but are instead left over from the original nebular material that Saturn formed out of. This theory is not widely accepted today, since Saturn's rings are thought to be unstable over periods of millions of years and therefore of relatively recent origin.

This Hubble Space Telescope image, captured in October 1996, shows Saturn's rings from just past edge-on.

Saturn's moons

Saturn has a large number of moons, 30 of which have names. The exact number of moons is uncertain, there being large numbers of objects of all sizes in orbit around Saturn. A recent survey starting in late 2000 found another 12 moons in orbits suggesting that they were the fragments of larger bodies captured by Saturn (Nature vol. 412, p.163-166)

Saturn's natural satellites

Name	Diameter (km)	Mass (kg)	Mean orbital radius (km)	Orbital period	Position
Pan	20	Unknown	133,583	0.575 days	in Encke Division
Atlas	30 (40 × 20)	Unknown	137,670	0.6019 days	outer A Ring shepherd
Prometheus	91 (145 × 85 × 62)	2.70×1017	139,350	0.6130 days	inner F Ring shepherd
Pandora	84 (114 × 84 × 62)	2.20×1017	141,700	0.6285 days	outer F Ring shepherd
Epimetheus	115 (144 × 108 × 98)	5.60×1017	151,422	0.6942 days	co-orbitals
Janus	178 (196 × 192 × 150)	2.01×1018	151,472	0.6945 days
Mimas	392	3.80×1019	185,520	0.942422 days
Enceladus	498	7.30×1019	238,020	1.370218 days
Telesto	29 (34 × 28 × 36)	Unknown	294,660	1.887802 days	leading Tethys trojan
Tethys	1060	6.22×1020	294,660	1.887802 days
Calypso	26 (34 × 22 × 22)	Unknown	294,660	1.887802 days	trailing Tethys trojan
Dione	1120	1.05×1021	377,400	2.736915 days
Helene	33 (36 × 32 × 30)	Unknown	377,400	2.736915 days	trailing Dione trojan
Rhea	1530	2.49×1021	527,040	4.5175 days
Titan	5150	1.35×1023	1,221,830	15.94542 days
Hyperion	286 (410 × 260 × 220)	1.77×1019	1,481,100	21.27661 days
Iapetus	1460	1.88×1021	3,561,300	79.33018 days
Kiviuq	16	Unknown	11,365,000	449.2 days	Inuit Group
Ijiraq	12	Unknown	11,440,000	451.5 days	Inuit Group
Phoebe	220	4.00×1018	12,944,300	-548.2 days**	Norse Group
Paaliaq	22	Unknown	15,199,000	686.9 days	Inuit Group
Skadi	8	Unknown	15,647,000	-728.9 days**
Albiorix	32	Unknown	16,404,000	783.5 days	Gallic Group
Erriapo	10	Unknown	17,616,000	871.9 days	Gallic Group
Siarnaq	40	Unknown	18,160,000	893.1 days	Inuit Group
Tarvos	15	Unknown	18,247,000	925.6 days	Gallic Group
Mundilfari	7	Unknown	18,709,000	-951.4 days**	Norse Group
S/2003 S1*	7	Unknown	18,719,000	-956.2 days**
Suttung	7	Unknown	19,463,000	-1016.3 days**	Norse Group
Thrym	7	Unknown	20,382,000	-1086.9 days**	Norse Group
Ymir	18	Unknown	23,096,000	-1312.4 days**	Norse Group

^* Awaiting confirmation and naming

^** negative orbital periods indicate a retrograde orbit around Saturn (opposite to the planet's rotation)

Front Row Seats

Saturn and its rings are best seen when the planet is at or near opposition (the configuration of a planet when it is at an elongation of 180° and thus appears opposite the Sun in the sky.)

Saturn's Opposition Periods 2001-2005

Date of Opposition	Distance to Earth (AU)	Angular diameter
December 3, 2001	8.08	20.6 arcsec
December 17, 2002	8.05	20.7 arcsec
December 31, 2003	8.05	20.7 arcsec
January 13, 2005	8.08	20.6 arcsec

Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age is a movement in Gustav Holst's The Planets suite.

Referenced By