Saturn gets edgy Observing Saturn through even a small telescope is amazing. The rings are so obvious and clear that sometimes, when I would show people the planet through my own ‘scope, they thought I was faking the view! But it really is that easy to see them. Well, usually. "Amateur" astronomer Alan Friedman — who has taken some incredible pictures of the Sun that have graced this blog — took a series of images of Saturn over several years, and put them together in a very cool animation that shows our changing view of the ringed planet: Pretty nifty [click to encronosenate]! [Again, click to embiggen.] Right now, as the dance of the planets continues, Saturn is getting closer to the Sun in the sky, making it difficult to observe. Image credit: Alan Friedman, used by permission. Related posts: - Ringless - Behold, Saturn!
Saturn 10 facts If the sun were as tall as a typical front door, the Earth would be the size of a nickel and Saturn would be about as big as a basketball. Saturn orbits our sun, a star. Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun at a distance of about 1.4 billion km (886 million miles) or 9.5 AU. One day on Saturn takes 10.7 hours (the time it takes for Saturn to rotate or spin once). Saturn is a gas-giant planet and therefore does not have a solid surface. Saturn's atmosphere is made up mostly of hydrogen (H2) and helium (He). Saturn has 53 known moons with an additional nine moons awaiting confirmation of their discovery -- that is a total of 62 moons. Saturn has the most spectacular ring system, which is made up of seven rings with several gaps and divisions between them. Only a few missions have visited Saturn: Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and 2 and Cassini-Huygens. Saturn cannot support life as we know it.
Space Science - Saturn and Titan Saturn and Titan, side by side Saturn and Titan 5 March 2012 Titan, Saturn’s largest moon at 5150 km across, looks small here, pictured to the right of the gas giant in this infrared image taken by the Cassini spacecraft. Saturn’s rings appear across the top of the image, casting shadows onto the planet across the middle of the image. A much smaller moon, Prometheus, 86 km across, appears as a tiny white speck above the rings in the far upper right of the image. The shadow of another moon, Pandora, 100 km at its widest, can be seen below the ring shadows towards the right side of the planet. Cassini’s wide-angle camera captured the view on 5 January, while it was about 685 000 km from Saturn.
The Planet Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet in the Solar system and, when seen through a telescope, by far the most beautiful. The bright globe of Saturn is surrounded by rings which may be composed of ice. Three of these rings are visible from the Earth using a telescope. Photographs sent back from the US Voyager spacecraft in the 1980s were able to identify further narrower rings “ringlets” in between the three main rings. Figure 1: Photograph of Saturn taken from Voyager spacecraft. Saturn is the last planet that can be seen without using a telescope or binoculars and the planet was known in the ancient world before telescopes were invented. The largest of the moons, Titan, is the 2nd largest in the Solar system, after Jupiter’s moon, Ganymede. Figure 2: Photograph from Pioneer spacecraft of Saturn, showing the moon Titan above the planet to the left. Saturn itself is named, like all the planets, after a Roman God. Figure 3 shows the huge distances of Jupiter and Saturn from the Sun. Useful Websites
True Saturn True Saturn Date: 6 Oct 2004 While cruising around Saturn in early October 2004, Cassini captured a series of images that have been composed into this large global natural color view of Saturn and its rings. This grand mosaic consists of 126 images acquired in a tile-like fashion, covering one end of Saturn's rings to the other and the entire planet in between. Three images (red, green and blue) were taken of each of the 42 locations, or "footprints," across the planet. The smallest features seen here are 38 km (24 miles) across. The sun-Saturn-Cassini, or phase, angle at the time was 72 degrees; hence, the partial illumination of Saturn in this portrait.
Saturn Saturn means: Saturn was the Roman god of agriculture. He was called Cronus by the Greeks. He is the son of Uranus and the father of Jupiter. How much would you weigh on Saturn? The Planet In many ways, Saturn is similar to Jupiter, but it is much smaller. Saturn is the least dense planet in our Solar System. Because Saturn is such a lightweight planet and it spins so fast, Saturn is not perfectly round like most of the other planets. The Rings Saturn is most well-known for its rings. Moons:Saturn has 53 official moons and 9 provisional (unofficial) moons. To learn more about these worlds Click Here.
Saturn Saturn's interior is probably composed of a core of iron, nickel and rock (silicon and oxygen compounds), surrounded by a deep layer of metallic hydrogen, an intermediate layer of liquid hydrogen and liquid helium and an outer gaseous layer.[15] The planet exhibits a pale yellow hue due to ammonia crystals in its upper atmosphere. Electrical current within the metallic hydrogen layer is thought to give rise to Saturn's planetary magnetic field, which is weaker than Earth's magnetic field but has a magnetic moment 580 times that of the Earth due to Saturn's larger body radius. Saturn's magnetic field strength is around one-twentieth the strength of Jupiter's.[16] The outer atmosphere is generally bland and lacking in contrast, although long-lived features can appear. Physical characteristics Composite image roughly comparing the sizes of Saturn and Earth Internal structure Saturn is termed a gas giant, but it is not entirely gaseous. Atmosphere Cloud layers North pole hexagonal cloud pattern
Rings of Saturn Simulated image using color to present radio occultation-derived information on particle sizes. Radio signals of 0.94, 3.6, and 13 cm wavelengths were sent from Cassini through the rings to Earth. The attenuation of each signal reflects the abundance of particles of sizes similar to the wavelength and larger. Purple (much of the B Ring and the inner A ring) indicates few particles smaller than 5 cm are present, i.e., similar attenuation of all signals. The rings have numerous gaps where particle density drops sharply: two opened by known moons embedded within them, and many others at locations of known destabilizing orbital resonances with Saturn's moons. History[edit] Galileo's work[edit] Galileo first observed the rings in 1610. Early astronomers used anagrams as a form of commitment scheme to lay claim to new discoveries before their results were ready for publication. Ring theory and observations[edit] Physical characteristics[edit] Formation of main rings[edit]
Magnetosphere of Saturn The magnetosphere of Saturn is the cavity created in the flow of the solar wind by the planet's internally generated magnetic field. Discovered in 1979 by the Pioneer 11 spacecraft, Saturn's magnetosphere is the second largest of any planet in the Solar System after Jupiter. The magnetopause, the boundary between Saturn's magnetosphere and the solar wind, is located at a distance of about 20 Saturn radii from the planet's center, while its magnetotail stretches hundreds of radii behind it. In 1980–1981 the magnetosphere of Saturn was studied by the Voyager spacecraft. As of 2010 it is a subject of the ongoing investigation by Cassini mission, which arrived in 2004. Discovery[edit] Structure[edit] Internal field[edit] Size and shape[edit] Magnetospheric regions[edit] The structure of Saturn's magnetosphere The plasma sheet in the Saturn's magnetosphere has a bowl-like shape not found in any other known magnetosphere. Dynamics[edit] Image of plasma cloud around Saturn (Cassini) Aurorae[edit]
Saturn, Sixth Planet from Sun & Second Largest in Solar System | Gas Giant, Saturn’s Rings, Jovian Planet Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and the second largest planet in the solar system. Although the other gas giants in the solar system — Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune — also have rings, those of Saturn are without a doubt the most extraordinary. Saturn was the Roman name for Cronus, the lord of the Titans in Greek mythology. Saturn is the root of the English word "Saturday." Physical characteristics of Saturn Saturn is a gas giant made up mostly of hydrogen and helium. Saturn is the farthest planet from Earth visible to the naked human eye. Saturn spins faster than any other planet except Jupiter, completing a rotation roughly every 10-and-a-half hours. Saturn's most recent curiosity may be the giant hexagon circling its north pole, with each of its sides nearly 7,500 miles (12,500 km) across — big enough to fit nearly four Earths inside. The formation of Saturn's rings is but one of the planet's many mysteries. Composition & structure Atmospheric composition (by volume) Magnetic field