Important Facts about Saturn Planet's Rings, Moons & Size
Saturn is the 6th planet from the Sun. Saturn is also called the 'Jewel of the Solar System'.
Saturn is the 2nd largest planet in our solar system. The largest planet is Jupiter. Jupiter and Uranus are neighboring planets of Saturn.
Mass and Size -The diameter of Saturn is about 9 times the diameter of the Earth, while it is 95 times the mass of the Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Saturn would be about as big as a volleyball.
Radius of Saturn -- The Mean radius is 58,232 km.
- The Equatorial radius is 60,268 km.
- The Polar radius is 54,364 km.
Saturn is composed mostly of gases. Its atmosphere is composed mostly of Hydrogen and Helium.
Saturn is a gas-giant planet whereas our Earth is made of rocks and stuff. But it might have a solid core somewhere in there.
Saturn has the most spectacular ring system, with 7 rings and several gaps and divisions between them.
The beautiful rings of Saturn are not solid, but they are made of pieces of ice, dust, and rock. It is not the only planet that has rings. But Saturn's rings are the biggest and brightest.
The average distance between Saturn and the Sun is more than 1.47 billion kilometers.
Saturn revolves around the Sun very slowly. One year on Saturn is approximately equal to 29 years on Earth.
But Saturn rotates very fast on its axis. A day on Saturn is about 10 hours 14 minutes.
Saturn has 53 known moons with an additional 29 unconfirmed moons that we need to know more about —that is a total of 82 moons.
Titan is the largest satellite of Saturn and the second largest satellite in the Solar System.
Very strong wind blows on Saturn. Here around the equator, winds can go up to 1,800 kilometers per hour.
Saturn cannot support life as we know it, but some of Saturn's moons have conditions that might support life.
About 2 tons of Saturn’s mass came from Earth. In 2017, the Cassini spacecraft was intentionally vaporized in Saturn’s atmosphere.
Few missions have visited Saturn. Pioneer 11 and Voyagers 1 and 2 flew by, but Cassini orbited Saturn 294 times from 2004 to 2017.(Source - NASA)