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by Erick Nienow Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago 5 min read

How big is Saturn's core?

In 2004, scientists estimated that the core must be 9–22 times the mass of Earth, which corresponds to a diameter of about 25,000 km.

Why does Saturn's rotation rate vary?

This variance may be caused by geyser activity on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The water vapor emitted into Saturn's orbit by this activity becomes charged and creates a drag upon Saturn's magnetic field , slowing its rotation slightly relative to the rotation of the planet.

What is Saturn made of?

Saturn is a gas giant composed predominantly of hydrogen and helium. It lacks a definite surface, though it may have a solid core. Saturn's rotation causes it to have the shape of an oblate spheroid; that is, it is flattened at the poles and bulges at its equator. Its equatorial and polar radii differ by almost 10%: 60,268 km versus 54,364 km. Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune, the other giant planets in the Solar System, are also oblate but to a lesser extent. The combination of the bulge and rotation rate means that the effective surface gravity along the equator, 8.96 m/s2, is 74% of what it is at the poles and is lower than the surface gravity of Earth. However, the equatorial escape velocity of nearly 36 km/s is much higher than that of Earth.

What is the name of the sixth planet in the solar system?

water ( H. 2O) ammonium hydrosulfide ( NH. 4SH) Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth.

Why is Saturn's atmosphere yellow?

Saturn has a pale yellow hue due to ammonia crystals in its upper atmosphere. An electrical current within the metallic hydrogen layer is thought to give rise to Saturn's planetary magnetic field, which is weaker than the Earth's, but which has a magnetic moment 580 times that of Earth due to Saturn's larger size.

How long is the hexagon?

The sides of the hexagon are each about 14,500 km (9,000 mi) long, which is longer than the diameter of the Earth. The entire structure rotates with a period of 10h 39m 24s (the same period as that of the planet's radio emissions) which is assumed to be equal to the period of rotation of Saturn's interior.

When was Saturn first observed?

History of observation and exploration. Galileo Galilei first observed the rings of Saturn in 1610. The observation and exploration of Saturn can be divided into three phases. The first phase is ancient observations (such as with the naked eye ), before the invention of modern telescopes.

What is Saturn's radius?

The two readers both pointed out that 60,330 kilometers is not the accepted radius for Saturn. The value that is typically used for Saturn's equatorial radius is 60,268 ±4 kilometers; this is based on a report published in Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy in 2007 by P. K. Seidelmann et al.: "Report of the IAU/IAG Working Group on cartographic coordinates and rotational elements: 2006," volume 98, pp. 155-180. This is the equatorial radius of Saturn at the 1-bar level, that is, where its atmospheric pressure is about equal to Earth's at sea level.

How many kilometers are there in Saturn's radius?

One Saturn radius, abbreviated as R-subscript-s but usually written just as Rs to make things easier, is 60,330 kilometers. Beginning at Saturn's center, one radius gets you to Saturn's cloud tops.

Overview

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; however, with its larger volume, Saturn is over 95 times more massive.
Saturn's interior is most likely composed of a core of iron–nickel and rock (silicon and oxygen com…

Name and symbol

Saturn is named after the Roman god of wealth and agriculture and father of Jupiter. Its astronomical symbol () has been traced back to the Greek Oxyrhynchus Papyri, where it can be seen to be a Greek kappa-rho with a horizontal stroke, as an abbreviation for Κρονος (Cronus), the Greek name for the planet. It later came to look like a lower-case Greek eta, with the cross added at the top in the 16th century to Christianize this pagan symbol.

Physical characteristics

Saturn is a gas giant composed predominantly of hydrogen and helium. It lacks a definite surface, though it is likely to have a solid core. Saturn's rotation causes it to have the shape of an oblate spheroid; that is, it is flattened at the poles and bulges at its equator. Its equatorial and polar radii differ by almost 10%: 60,268 km versus 54,364 km. Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune, the other giant planets in the Solar System, are also oblate but to a lesser extent. The combination of the bulge …

Orbit and rotation

The average distance between Saturn and the Sun is over 1.4 billion kilometers (9 AU). With an average orbital speed of 9.68 km/s, it takes Saturn 10,759 Earth days (or about 29+1⁄2 years) to finish one revolution around the Sun. As a consequence, it forms a near 5:2 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter. The elliptical orbit of Saturn is inclined 2.48° relative to the orbital plane of the Earth. The perihelion and aphelion distances are, respectively, 9.195 and 9.957 AU, on averag…

Natural satellites

Saturn has 83 known moons, 53 of which have formal names. In addition, there is evidence of dozens to hundreds of moonlets with diameters of 40–500 meters in Saturn's rings, which are not considered to be true moons. Titan, the largest moon, comprises more than 90% of the mass in orbit around Saturn, including the rings. Saturn's second-largest moon, Rhea, may have a tenuous ring system of its own, along with a tenuous atmosphere.

History of observation and exploration

The observation and exploration of Saturn can be divided into three phases. The first phase is ancient observations (such as with the naked eye), before the invention of modern telescopes. The second phase began in the 17th century, with telescopic observations from Earth, which improved over time. The third phase is visitation by space probes, in orbit or on flyby. In the 21st century, telescopic observations continue from Earth (including Earth-orbiting observatories like the Hubbl…

Observation

Saturn is the most distant of the five planets easily visible to the naked eye from Earth, the other four being Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter. (Uranus, and occasionally 4 Vesta, are visible to the naked eye in dark skies.) Saturn appears to the naked eye in the night sky as a bright, yellowish point of light. The mean apparent magnitude of Saturn is 0.46 with a standard deviation of 0.34. Most of the magnitude variation is due to the inclination of the ring system relative to the Sun an…