Saturn

Saturn is the sixth planet as seen from the sun and is the second planet ‘s great that we can find in our solar system. It is a planet that is adorned with thousands of beautiful spirals , so it can be said that it is unique among planets. It is not the only planet that has rings and those it does have are made of pieces of ice and rock , but none has rings as spectacular or as complicated as those of Saturn. Like its gas giant companion Jupiter, it is a huge ball made primarily of hydrogen and helium .

Saturn Characteristics:

• It is surrounded by 53 moons which have been confirmed by scientists, and also has nine provisional moons .
• It was discovered by the human eye without the aid of instruments.
• It has been known since ancient times and is named after the Roman god of agriculture and wealth .
• It has the most fascinating landscapes that can be found in the solar system .
• It is made up of gases, mainly hydrogen and helium .
• It is so large that it could contain more than 760 Earths .
• It has the lowest density of all the planets , it is even less dense than water.
• The yellow and gold bands that can be seen in Saturn’s atmosphere are the result of super fast winds in the upper atmosphere.
• It spins faster than any other planet except Jupiter .
• The fast spin that it makes causes it to swell at its equator, crushing it at its poles.
• Its mass is 5,6881026 kg
• Its volume is 8.27 · 1023 m³
• Its density is 690 kg / m³

Story:

In Roman mythology, Saturn is the god of agriculture . Saturn is the root of the English word ” Saturday “. Saturn has been known since prehistoric times . Galileo was the first to observe it with a telescope in 1610. In 1659, Christian Huygens correctly deduced the geometry of Saturn’s rings . These remained unique in the known solar system until 1977, when very faint rings were discovered around Uranus . It was first visited by  NASA’s Pioneer 11 in 1979 and later by  Voyager 1and Voyager 2. Cassini arrived on July 1, 2004 and orbited Saturn for at least four years. The rings are supposed to have been formed by a cosmic war 4,000 million years ago when different planets  that changed their orbits were destroyed, so the rings are believed to be made up of dead planets and ice .

Composition:

Saturn composition is mainly based on simple molecules such as hydrogen and helium , but also can be found ammonia ice , methane ice and water ice . Beneath the planet’s cloud layers, when the pressure inside increases, the hydrogen it is made of changes to liquid hydrogen , which gradually changes more to liquid metallic hydrogen . Compared to Jupiter, it doesn’t have as much metallic hydrogen, but it does have more ice. Likewise, it has a smaller magnetosphere than Jupiter’s. Inside is the core , which is made ofrocky and metallic elements .

Atmosphere of Saturn:

It has an atmosphere that is basically made up of different hydrogen and helium molecules . Sulfur can also be found in large quantities , which is what causes Saturn to have its characteristic yellow color . We can also find gases like nitrogen and oxygen .

Magnetic field:

Saturn has metallic hydrogen , which is a liquid capable of conducting others and for this reason, a dynamo effect is formed which is the same as talking about a magnetic field . The magnetosphere that surrounds it has an elongated shape due to the intersection of the forces that occur in the magnetic field created by different particles that are irradiated by the sun and its solar wind .

Rotation and translation:

The rotational movement that Saturn makes is ten hours , so it is quite fast if we compare it with that of the earth. The translational movement is 29.7 years as it is one of the planets that is located farthest from the sun.

Saturn satellites:

On Saturn we can find satellites with dynamic orbits , co-orbital satellites and Trojans . Some of them are:

• Titan: it is the largest satellite.
• Iapetus or Iapetus: It has a dark face and a light one.
• Dione and Tethys
• Calypso
• Helena
• Hyperion
• Iapetus
• Pampering

Rings:

Its rings are made up of ice , dust, and rocks . Many of them are very small and others are huge. Some scientists believe that rocks and ice chips are fragments of comets , steroids, and moons that were destroyed by the planet’s gravity.

Temperature:

Being away from the sun and lasting so long around it, they make it a very cold planet . The average temperature is – 130 ° C.

The great white spot of Saturn:

This spot occurs on the planet every 29 years . The storm has a large amount of electrical activity and is believed to have formed due to the condensation of ammonia and water vapor . It occurs 250 kilometers deep in the planet’s atmosphere.

Curiosities:

• Its name was taken from Greek mythology , referring to the god Cronos .
• It is the sixth planet in the solar system and can still be seen from Earth.
• On its surface winds are produced with the force of a hurricane .
• It is called the Gas Giant .
• It has ethane and ammonia in its atmosphere , which makes it an uninhabitable planet.
• It has 62 moons.
• Its rotation is the fastest of all the planets.
• It is flat at the poles and bulky in the area where the equator is located.