36 Important Facts About Saturn

Last updated on May 3rd, 2019

19. Naming the planet: its name comes from: Saturn is named after the Roman god of Farming – Saturn.

20. Atmosphere matters for life: Titan, another of Saturn’s moon is the only moon to have a substantial atmosphere. Its atmosphere is 370 miles deep.

21. Comparing the moons: Titan is also the second largest moon in the solar system after Jupiters’ Ganymede. And it is larger than Mercury (the smallest planet in the Solar System.)

22. Seasons: Saturn generates its own heat, and seasons on the planet are not dependent on the Sun. This could be because of its long distance from the Sun.

23. Hot or cold: -178 degree Celsius is the average temperature on Saturn.

24. A pressure cooker: atmospheric pressure on Saturn is 100 times than that on the Earth.

25. Core’s temperature: Saturn’s core is as hot as the Sun.

26. How fast? Saturns’ average velocity is 9.64 km per second while that of Earth’s is 30 km per second.

27. Light or heavy? Saturn is the least dense planet in the solar system. It can easily float in a pool of water, provided we could build one to accommodate a planet of this size in it.

28. Sky gazing: with the help of a telescope, Saturn’s rings can be easily seen from Earth.

29. Constituents of its rings: did you know that Saturn’s rings contain particles that can be as small as dust particles and as large as mountains?

30. Ring vs ring: there are many rings that revolve around Saturn and interestingly, their speed varies. The difference in the speed of these rings could be because of the difference in the weight of the particles that are revolving in them.

31. At its core: rock, ice, and water — at the center of Saturn under intense pressure and heat, make for a solid core.

32. What color? Saturn is light brown in color.

33. How its rings came into existence: the planet’s rings were formed from asteroids, comets, and moons that were shattered by the massive Saturns’ powerful gravity.

34. Galileo’s observation: when Galileo Galilei first observed Saturn in 1610, he saw a pair of an object on either side of the planet, which led him to draw the conclusion that Saturn was triple-bodied. Of course, his observations were limited due to his use of a basic telescope that did not have high magnifying powers as compared to the one that was later used by Christiaan Huygens to conclude that Saturn had rings around it.

35. Distance from the Sun: about 1.4 billion km (886 million miles) or 9.5 AU.

36. NASA’s Cassini–the nuclear-powered–aircraft will be destroyed by the US space exploration agency on 15th September 2017. NASA has to take this step in order to defend life on Saturns’ moon–Enceladus–where they suppose Alien life exists. If the spacecraft is not destroyed in a controlled fashion, chances are that it will hit this moon and may cause damage to alien life which scientist think is in existence on Enceladus. The Cassini spacecraft is a hefty $3.26 billion investment which NASA had put into orbit in 2004 after its launch in 1997.

Saturn – Quick facts