Saturn captures the imagination with its system of rings. We now know the ring of Saturn is not unique in the solar system. Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune all have ring particles orbiting them. It's just that the rings of Saturn can be seen with even a relatively small telescope by observers here on Earth. I am always delighted and amused by my guests' first view of this gas giant through my telescopes. Yes, you can easily see the rings, and that fact continues to astonish these viewers.


Here are some of the essential facts about Saturn:

• Radius 60,000 km which is about nine and one half times the size of Earth
  
• Rotation 10 hours 13 minutes at the equator
  
• Revolution 29 years to orbit the Sun
  
• Semi major axis 9.5 A.U.
  
• Atmosphere Mostly Hydrogen and some Helium. Essentially the same composition as a star.
  
• Cloud Features Dark Belts alternate with bright Zones, but they are harder to see on Saturn.
  
• Moons or rings The famous ring system is composed of 'snowballs'. Here is a painting that shows what it might look like within the rings. A movie shows the strange spokes in the rings. Saturn also has many small icy moons. The small moons on either side of the F ring act as shepherding satellites to keep ring particles from escaping. The one big moon of Saturn is Titan. Titan has a substantial atmosphere composed of nitrogen and methane.
  
• Space Probes Pioneers 10 and 11 and Vikings I and II were most successful in the 1970's and 1980's. The very sophisticated probe called Cassini has been in orbit around the ringed planet for the past two years. The Huygens landing probe descended to the surface of the moon a few years ago. Here are some more detailed movies of the landing. Here is what the surface looks like.

Try this site for more information on Saturn!

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Updated November 8, 2010