Saturn is a gas giant, which means it is mostly composed of gas and dust. It has no solid surface. The only things that can be seen are the rings, which are made up of small rocks and ice particles. The rings are very thin and you can see them only with a very sharp eye.
Saturn is about 116,500 kilometers in diameter, larger than Earth but smaller than Jupiter. It has a very low surface temperature- about minus 140 degrees Celsius.
Here are 5 interesting facts about Saturn:
- Saturn is the largest planet in our solar system.
- It has a diameter of about 72,400 miles.
- Saturn is mostly made of gas and ice.
- It takes 12 years for the planet to orbit around the sun.
- Some of the most famous features on Saturn include the rings and the moon Enceladus.
Atmosphere
Saturn has a very strange atmosphere. It’s mostly made up of nitrogen and hydrogen. These gases are clouds that are very high up in the atmosphere. The gases are so high up that they fall back to the ground as rain. The rain forms rivers and streams on the ground.
It is very cold on the inside and the atmosphere is mainly made of gas and ice particles. The atmosphere is so thin that it doesn’t have a solid surface. The atmosphere makes it difficult for sunlight to reach the planet’s surface.
There are many moons orbiting Saturn. The largest of these is Titan. Titan is the only moon that has an atmosphere. The atmosphere is made of organic compounds. These compounds can form from the release of methane from the moon’s interior.
Orbit and Rotation
Saturn orbits the Sun at a distance of about 1.5 million kilometers (918,000 miles). This means that the day on Saturn lasts about 10 hours and 39 minutes. The length of a Saturn year is about 29.5 Earth years.
The axis of rotation on Saturn is tilted 23.5 degrees with respect to the plane of its orbit around the Sun. The result is that Saturn has a very complex rotation pattern. There are several regions on the planet that rotate backwards (in the opposite direction of the rest of the planet) as well as regions that rotate in the opposite direction of each other.
The poles on Saturn are not in the same place as the equator. Instead, they are located about 25 degrees north of the equator. This is because the rotation of the planet creates winds that push the atmosphere and the surface of the planet around.