Saturn

Saturn’s ring system and icy moons offer clues to planetary formation and the search for life beyond Earth.

Telescopic picture of planet Saturn

Introduction

Saturn is the solar system's second largest planet and is famous for its stunning ring system. Saturn is a gas planet made up primarily of hydrogen and helium, much like Jupiter. Saturn is a system full of wonders, from the methane lakes on Titan to the ice geysers on Enceladus.

Potential for Life

Saturn was found by early Romans and was named after their deity of agriculture and wealth and the father of Jupiter. It's the farthest planet which we can see naked eye, and has been recognized since ancient times. Saturn itself cannot support life as we know it – its climate is too severe, with high pressure, sub-zero temperatures, and toxic gases. But some of its moons, like Enceladus (with water fountains) and Titan (with lakes and a thick atmosphere), maybe have environments where microbial life could exist.

Properties

Property	Information
Size and distance	Diameter: 120,500 km (9 times Earth's width) Volume: Has roughly 760 Earths jammed in Distance from Sun: 1.4 billion km (9.5 AU) Sunlight travel time: ~80 minutes
Orbit and rotation	Day length: 10.7 Earth hours Year length: 29.4 Earth years (10,756 Earth days) Axial tilt: 26.7°, so Saturn experiences seasons, like Earth
Moons	As of June 2023, Saturn has 146 confirmed moons, the most of any planet. Each moon is unique: Titan – Larger than Mercury; has a thick, nitrogen-rich atmosphere and liquid methane and ethane lakes Enceladus – Reflective surface, and known for shooting water-ice geysers from its south pole, indicating a subsurface ocean Phoebe – A dark, cratered moon that orbits backward (retrograde) Other moons are still being studied and await official recognition and naming.
Rings	Saturn has the most extensive and intricate ring system in the solar system. Made of billions of particles of rock and ice, from dust-grain to house-grain or larger in size Officially named alphabetically by date of discovery: D, C, B, A, F, G, E Cassini Division is an extensive gap between the A and B rings (4,700 km wide) While the ring system stretches 282,000 km from Saturn, it's only 10 meters thick The rings are believed to be made up of shattered moons or icy bodies disintegrated by Saturn's gravity

Formation

Saturn formed around 4.5 billion years ago, just like the Sun, from the same cloud of gas and dust. It became a gas giant like Jupiter, made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium. Around 4 billion years ago, it settled into its current orbit as the sixth planet from the Sun.

Internal Structure

• Core: Denser and rocky, maybe made of iron and nickel

• Surroundings: Liquid metallic hydrogen layers and liquid hydrogen layers

• Saturn is the only planet that is less dense than water – it would float in a giant bathtub!

Surface

Saturn does not have a solid surface. It's made of liquid and gas, and the deeper you go, the colder and pressure-filled it is.

A spacecraft that tried to fly into Saturn would be crushed and reduced to space goo before it even got anywhere near any "surface."

Atmosphere

• Colors ranging from pale yellow to gold and brown from ammonia clouds and trace gases

• Stormy winds reach 500 m/s (~1,600 ft/s), much stronger than Earth's hurricanes

• Unique: a hexagonal jet stream at the north pole, over 30,000 km in diameter, with a massive storm in the middle

• Saturn's clouds are less colored than Jupiter's but still striped, stormy, and fast jet streams

Magnetosphere

• Saturn's magnetic field is 578 times more powerful than Earth's, though less than Jupiter's.

• It produces a huge magnetosphere that shields the planet and its moons from solar wind

• Saturn's aurorae are partially triggered by its own magnetic rotation and moon activity, rather than solely solar wind

• These auroras remain a mystery and are still the target of research

Scientific diagram of Saturn

Summary

Saturn is the second-largest planet in the solar system, known for its iconic and massive ring system made of ice and rock. Composed mostly of hydrogen and helium, Saturn has no solid surface and extreme atmospheric pressure, winds, and storms including a hexagonal jet stream at its north pole. It has 146 confirmed moons, including Titan with methane lakes and Enceladus, which shoots water geysers that hint at a hidden ocean. Though Saturn can't support life, some moons may have habitable environments. Its strong magnetic field creates auroras and protects its vast system, and its low density means Saturn could float in water.