Size: 9 times larger than the Earth; 11,6000 km in diameter
Weight: Far heavier than Earth; 570,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg
Temperature: Colder than the Earth; -150 degrees Celsius
Density: Lighter than water, 0.69 g/cm3
Composition: Hydrogen and Helium
Satellite: Many more than 60 such as Tytan, Enceladus, Mimas, Dione, Tethys, Iapetus, Hyperion, Pan, etc.
Recent exploration missions: Voyager 1 and 2 by NASA (1980 and 1981); Cassini by NASA (2004-2017)
Something curious about the Sun
1. Why does Saturn have rings?
Although Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune also have rings around them, Saturn’s rings are visible most brightly and clearly among them. The rings of Saturn are made up of billions of bits of icy rock grains orbiting Saturn, and how those rings came about hasn’t been figured out yet. Those many rings consist of only seven huge ones which look like having gaps between them because some rings have fewer icy rock grains. Saturn has many moons in the gaps between rings, and they are named Daphnis, Pandora, Prometheus, Janus, Epimetheus.
2. Fancy ringed Saturn!
Saturn was formed 4.6 billion years ago, almost the same as our Sun. The rings have different ages from old to new. For example, some of the rings were formed when Saturn was made, while others are more recent rings formed by icy rock grains from Enceladus, the sixth-largest of Saturn’s moons. Don’t you think Saturn is such a fancy planet, which gets rings changed just like new hats!
3. Is it possible to build houses on Saturn?
Saturn is made up of a thick atmosphere, which is made up mostly of hydrogen. Underneath the atmosphere, there’s hydrogen and helium in liquid form. Further down, at the center of Saturn, icy rocks may exist. But since the center of Saturn is pushed by its intense gravity, we can’t build any houses on it.
Checklist
- Humans can live there (Yes or No): No…no solid surface!
- Humans can breathe there (Yes or No): No, no oxygen
- Humans can walk on the surface there (Yes or No): No, being made of gas
- The temperature of its surface is (Hot or Cold): Cold, -150 degrees Celcius
- It is a (sinking or floating) object: Floating. But it’s gas…
- Water exists there (Yes or No): No, not at all!