Saturn

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. It is the second largest planet in our solar system.

 Saturn is 888,200,000 miles away from the Sun.  It has a diameter of 74,900 miles.  It is easy to see Saturn with your eyes at night, you don't need any special equipment.  It is not as bright as Jupiter but you can tell it is a planet because it does not twinkle the way a star does.  If you use a telescope you may be able to see the rings and the larger moons.

Saturn is a gas planet made up of 92 % hydrogen, 6% helium, and little bits of methane, ammonia, water, and rock. If you could fit Saturn in a bathtub it would float because it is made up of materials that are lighter than water!  (To see an example of how a liquid can float on top of water, ask your mom if you can put a teaspoon of cooking oil in a glass of water.  The oil will float to the top! The elements that make up Saturn are not made out of oil!)

Saturn has a beautiful ring system.  It is the brightest of all the planets.  The rings are mostly made up of ice crystals and perhaps some rock particles that are coated with ice.  The pieces range in size from a few centimeters to a few meters.  Saturn has thousands of rings.  There are seven main ring divisions.  They are named after the letters in the alphabet, A, B, C, D, E, F, and G!

Each day on Saturn lasts only 10.2 Earth hours!  The days are very short!   A year on Saturn takes 29.46 Earth years!  Can you figure out how many Earth years it would take to complete 12 years of schooling on Saturn?

Saturn was named after the Roman god of Agriculture.

Saturn has thirty moons that we know of.  Twelve of its moons were just recently discovered.  Titan is the largest moon.  It is a little bit bigger than Mercury and has an atmosphere of nitrogen.  We think it is made up of 50 % water ice and 50% rocky materials.  Some of Saturn's moons are covered with a smooth coating of ice.

This is what the symbol for the planet Saturn looks like this: