Saturn Planet Profile
Mass: 568,319,000,000,000,000 billion kg
Equatorial Diameter: 120,536 km
Polar Diameter: 108,728 km
Equatorial Circumference: 365,882 km
Known Satellites: 62
Notable Satellites: Titan, Rhea & Enceladus
Orbit Distance: 1,426,666,422 km
Orbit Period: 10,755.70 Earth days (29.45 Earth years)
Surface Temperature: -139 °C
Facts about Saturn
Saturn is the flattest planet:
Its polar diameter is 90% of its equatorial diameter, this is due to it’s low density and fast rotation. Saturn turns on its axis once every 10 hours and 34 minutes giving it the second-shortest day of any of the solar system’s planets.
Saturn orbits the Sun once every 29.4 Earth years:
Its slow movement against the backdrop of stars earned it the nickname of “Lubadsagush” from the ancient Assyrians. The name means “oldest of the old”.
Every year, the Moon moves about 1.5 inches (3.8 centimetres) further away from Earth
Saturn’s upper atmosphere is divided into bands of clouds:
The top layers are mostly ammonia ice. Below them, the clouds are largely water ice. Below are layers of cold hydrogen and sulfur ice mixtures.
Saturn is made mostly of hydrogen:
It exists in layers that get denser farther into the planet. Eventually, deep inside, the hydrogen becomes metallic. At the core lies a hot interior.
Saturn has the most extensive rings in the solar system:
The Saturnian rings are made mostly of chunks of ice and small amounts of carbonaceous dust. The rings stretch out more than 120,700 km from the planet, but are amazingly thin: only about 20 meters thick.
Saturn has 150 moons and smaller moonlets:
All are frozen worlds. The largest moons are Titan and Rhea. Enceladus appears to have an ocean below its frozen surface.
Titan is a moon with complex and dense nitrogen-rich atmosphere:
It is composed mostly of water ice and rock. Its frozen surface has lakes of liquid methane and landscapes covered with frozen nitrogen. Planetary scientists consider Titan to be a possible harbor for life, but not Earth-like life.
