Saturn Facts
SATURN FACTS
The home of interesting Saturn facts for kids and adults.
The Planet Saturn Factfile
| Saturn | |
|---|---|
| Position from the Sun | 6 |
| Diameter | 120,536 km |
| What is the mass? | 95 Earths |
| How many moons? | 82 |
| How far long is the orbit distance? | 1,426,666,422 km |
| How long does it take to orbit the sun? | 10,756 days |
| Whats the temperature on Saturn? | -139 °C |
| When was Saturn discovered? | 8th Century BC |
| Who first discovered Saturn? | Assyrians |
10 Facts about Saturn you didn't know.
1. Saturn has the most moons in the solar system.
Up until 2019, Jupiter was crowned the planet with the most moons in the solar system. It wasn't until a technological advancement led to a discovery of a further 20 new moons, that knocked Jupiter off its title by three orbiting moons.
Did you know?
In 1847, John Hershel named the 7 known moons after Greek Giants and Titans. This theme was kept until the 21st century, however the increasing amount of discoveries posed a challenge. In 2004, Astrologists at the IAU General Assembly allowed satellites of Saturn to have names of giants and monsters in Norse, Gallic and Inuit giants.
2. Saturn could float in water.
Saturn is the least dense planet in the solar system. Saturn is composed of the gas, mainly Hydrogen and Helium. If you had a large enough pool of water Saturn would float.
Did you know?
Saturn's atmosphere is composed predominately of 96% Hydrogen and 3% Helium. There are traces of other substances such as Methane, Ammonia, Acetylene and many more.
3. Saturn has the most complex and largest ring system of any planet.
Saturn's seven main rings extend outwards from its equator. They start at approximately 6,630 km outwards and reach approximately 120,700 km into space. On average they are only 20 meters in thickness.
Some of Saturn's moons safeguard act as shepard moons, they protect the rings to stop them spreading out. These include but are not limited to Pandora, and Prometheus.
Did you know?
Beyond the main rings of Saturn, another ring named Phoebe orbits the planet. It is 12 million km from the planet.
4. Saturn has the second shortest day in the solar system.
A day on Saturn takes just 10 hours and 42 minutes. This is just over an hour longer than Jupiter.
Did you know?
Saturn rotates at 35,500 km/h or 22,058 mph. This is 34 times faster than Earth's rotational speed at 1,670 km/h or 1,037 mph.
5. Saturn was named after the Roman god Saturnus.
Saturn has had many names, originally called Phanion in ancient Greek. Phanion was sacred to the ancient Greek god Cronus. Romans consider Saturnus, from which the planet takes its modern name, the equivalent to Greek god Cronus.
Did you know?
The modern Greeks still call the planet Cronus. The day Saturday was named after Saturn. Jupiter is named after Zeus, who in Greek mythology was son of Cronos.
6. Saturn is the furthest planet you can see unaided.
Only 5 planets are visible to the naked eye. Saturn is the furthest planet in our solar system that is visible from the surface of Earth. When they are at their closest, they are approximately 1.2 billion kilometers apart.
When at their most distant this increases to approximately 1.7 billion km apart.
Did you know?
Saturn's rings are the only planets ring system you can see on Earth, all you need is a small telescope.
7.Saturn is the 2nd windiest planet in the solar system
Winds on Saturn can reach up to 1,800 km/hr or 1,100 mph.
Did you know?
Winds on Saturn are 3.45 times intense than Earths most damaging tornados.
A tornado on Earth is measured by the Fujita scale. Tornadoes are measured on a scale of F0-5, F5 being classed as an Incredible Tornado.
F5 tornados reach between 261 and 318 Mph. The damage can be catastrophic as strong frame houses lifted off foundations and carried considerable distances to disintegrate; automobile sized missiles fly through the air in excess of 100 meters; trees debarked; steel re-inforced concrete structures badly damaged.
8. Saturn is the flattest planet in the solar system.
Saturn has flattened out into an oblate shape. This shape starts to resemble a rugby ball. It has happened because the rotational acceleration cancels a large proportion of gravity at its equator.
Did you know?
Saturn's gravity is only 1.08 times of Earth. If you weighed 100 kg on Earth, you would weigh 108 kg on Saturn.
9. Saturn has been visited by 4 spacecraft.
In September 1979 NASA's Pioneer 11 was the first to flyby Saturn. This was closely followed by the NASA twin spacecraft named Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 just 9 months apart in 1980 and 1981.
In 2004, Cassini and international mission arrived in Saturn's orbit. It studied Saturn from its orbit for 13 years. It carried onboard the European Huygens probe which was the first human made object to land on a world in the distant solar system. This mission was originally scheduled for 4 years and changed name twice to Cassini Equinox Mission and later Cassini Solstice Mission.
Did you know?
Scientists deliberated how to retire in 2008. It was decided to direct Cassini into Saturn's atmosphere to minimise any damage to its moons. On September 15th 2017, Cassini was directed into Saturn's atmosphere and lost signal at 7:55:46am EDT. This was just 30 seconds later than predicted. It is estimated that the spaceship burnt up 45 seconds after last transmission.
10. Saturn has seasons.
Saturn has an axial tilt very similar to Earths. This means its experiences similar seasons however, due to the amount of radiation it receives from the sun these seasons are much more subtle than Earth.
Did you know?
Most of Saturn's heat comes from its interior rather than the sun. Similar to the temperature change with longitude on Earth, scientists have found there is a 10°C difference between the equatorial equivalent on Saturn.
More Saturn Facts And Products
To learn more about this amazing celestial body, we provided here our top 10 list of non-fiction books about the planet Saturn.