Saturn
hideSaturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn, along with Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, is classified as a gas giant. Together, these four planets are sometimes referred to as the Jovian, meaning "Jupiter-like", planets.
Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn (that became the namesake of Saturday), equated to the Greek Kronos (the Titan father of Zeus) the Babylonian Ninurta and to the Hindu Shani. Saturn's symbol represents the god's sickle (Unicode: ♄).
The planet Saturn is composed of hydrogen, with small proportions of helium and trace elements. The interior consists of a small core of rock and ice, surrounded by a thick layer of metallic hydrogen and a gaseous outer layer. The outer atmosphere is generally bland in appearance, although long-lived features can appear. Wind speeds on Saturn can reach 1,800 km/h, significantly faster than those on Jupiter. Saturn has a planetary magnetic field intermediate in strength between that of Earth and the more powerful field around Jupiter.
Saturn has a prominent system of rings, consisting mostly of ice particles with a smaller amount of rocky debris and dust. Sixty-one known moons orbit the planet, not counting hundreds of "moonlets" within the rings. Titan, Saturn's largest and the Solar System's second largest moon (after Jupiter's Ganymede), is larger than the planet Mercury and is the only moon in the Solar System to possess a significant atmosphere.
For more information about Saturn, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with saturn
Image: Prometheus Plays Tug of War with One of Saturn's Rings
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The diminutive moon Prometheus whips gossamer ice particles out of Saturn's F ring in this image taken by the Cassini spacecraft on Aug. 21, 2009.
Cassini Captures Ghostly Dance of Saturn's Northern Lights (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 24, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In the first video showing the auroras above the northern latitudes of Saturn, Cassini has spotted the tallest known "northern lights" in the solar system, flickering in shape and brightness ...
Ghostly 'Spokes' Puff Out From Saturn's Ring's (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Massive, bright clouds of tiny ice particles hover above the darkened rings of Saturn in an image captured by the Cassini spacecraft on Sept. 22, 2009, around the time of Saturn's equinox. ...
A long night falls over Saturn's rings
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 24, 2009 |
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As Saturn's rings orbit the planet, a section is typically in the planet's shadow, experiencing a brief night lasting from 6 to 14 hours. However, once approximately every 15 years, night falls over the entire ...
Penn State Advanced Vehicle Team unveils its new set of wheels
Oct 07, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Penn State engineering students recently took delivery of a 2009 Saturn Vue that will be used in an advanced vehicle technology engineering contest sponsored by the Department of Energy and General ...
Largest Ring Around Saturn Discovered
Oct 07, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered an enormous ring around Saturn -- by far the largest of the giant planet's many rings.
Cassini Reveals New Ring Quirks, Shadows During Saturn Equinox
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA scientists are marveling over the extent of ruffles and dust clouds revealed in the rings of Saturn during the planet's equinox last month. Scientists once thought the rings were almost ...
Exotic life beyond Earth? Looking for life as we don't know it
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 18, 2009 |
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Scientists at a new interdisciplinary research institute in Austria are working to uncover how life might evolve with "exotic" biochemistry and solvents, such as sulphuric acid instead of water. Their research ...
Scientists unravel the chemistry of Titan's hazy atmosphere
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 15, 2009 |
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A team of University of Hawai'i at Mānoa researchers led by Ralf Kaiser, physical chemist at UH Mānoa, unraveled the chemical evolution of the orange-brownish colored atmosphere of Saturn's moon ...
Longest lightning storm on Saturn breaks Solar System record
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 15, 2009 |
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A powerful lightning storm in Saturn’s atmosphere that began in mid-January 2009 has become the Solar System’s longest continuously observed thunderstorm. It broke the record duration of 7.5 months set by ...
New Transient Radiation Belt Discovered at Saturn
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 14, 2009 |
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Scientists using the Cassini spacecraft's Magnetospheric Imaging instrument (MIMI) have detected a new, temporary radiation belt at Saturn, located around the orbit of its moon Dione at about 377 000 km ...
Saturn Moon Could Power 150 Billion Labor Day Barbecues
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 07, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Since its discovery by Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens in 1655, Saturn's most massive moon, Titan, has been known as a place of mystery and intrigue. The large, cloud-enshrouded moon is ...
Scientist finds alternate explanation for dune formation on Titan
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Aug 25, 2009 |
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A new and likely controversial paper has just been published online in Nature Geoscience by LSU Department of Geography and Anthropology Chair Patrick Hesp and United States Geological Survey scientist David ...
Scientists discover storms in the tropics of Titan
Aug 12, 2009 |
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For all its similarities to Earth -- clouds that pour rain (albeit liquid methane not liquid water) onto the surface producing lakes and rivers, vast dune fields in desert-like regions, plus a smoggy orange ...
Saturn to Pull Celestial Houdini on August 11
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Aug 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In 1918, magician extraordinaire Harry Houdini created a sensation when he made a 10,000 pound elephant disappear before a mystified audience of over 5,200 at New York's famed Hippodrome theatre. ...
