History of discoveries. Who discovered Saturn? The famous rings of Saturn

The starry sky has always attracted romantics, poets, artists and lovers with its beauty. Since time immemorial, people have admired the scattering of stars and attributed to them special magical properties.

Ancient astrologers, for example, were able to draw a parallel between the date of birth of a person and the star that shone brightly at that moment. It was believed that it can influence not only the totality of the character traits of a newborn, but also his entire future fate. Stargazing helped farmers determine the best date for sowing and harvesting. It can be said that much in the life of ancient people was subject to the influence of stars and planets, so it is not surprising that mankind has been trying to study the planets closest to the Earth for more than one century.

Many of them are currently quite well studied, but some can present scientists with many surprises. To such planets, astronomers, in the first place, include Saturn. A description of this gas giant can be found in any textbook on astronomy. However, scientists themselves believe that this is one of the most poorly understood planets, all the mysteries and secrets of which humanity is not even able to list yet.

Today you will receive the most detailed information about Saturn. The mass of the gas giant, its size, description and comparative characteristics with the Earth - you can learn all this from this article. Perhaps you will hear some facts for the first time, and something will seem simply incredible to you.

Ancient conceptions of Saturn

Our ancestors could not accurately calculate the mass of Saturn and characterize it, but they definitely understood how majestic this planet was and even worshiped it. Historians believe that Saturn, which belongs to one of the five planets that are perfectly distinguishable from Earth with the naked eye, has been known to people for a very long time. It got its name in honor of the god of fertility and agriculture. This deity was highly revered among the Greeks and Romans, but in the future the attitude towards him changed slightly.

The fact is that the Greeks began to associate Saturn with Kronos. This titan was very bloodthirsty and even devoured his own children. Therefore, he was treated without due respect and with some apprehension. But the Romans revered Saturn very much and even considered him a god who gave humanity many of the knowledge necessary for life. It was the god of agriculture who taught ignorant people to build living quarters and save the grown crop until the next year. In gratitude to Saturn, the Romans held real holidays lasting several days. During this period, even slaves could forget about their insignificant position and fully feel like free people.

It is noteworthy that in many ancient cultures, Saturn, which scientists were able to characterize only after millennia, was associated with strong deities who confidently control the destinies of people in many worlds. Modern historians often think that ancient civilizations could have known much more about this giant planet than we do today. Perhaps other knowledge was available to them, and we just have to, throwing away dry statistical data, penetrate into the secrets of Saturn.

Brief description of the planet

In a few words, it is quite difficult to tell which planet Saturn really is. Therefore, in the current section, we will give the reader all the known data that will help to form some idea about this amazing celestial body.

Saturn is the sixth planet in our native solar system. Since it mainly consists of gases, it is classified as a gas giant. Jupiter is usually called the closest "relative" of Saturn, but besides it, Uranus and Neptune can also be added to this group. It is noteworthy that all gaseous planets can be proud of their rings, but only Saturn has them in such quantity that it allows you to see its majestic "belt" even from Earth. Modern astronomers rightly consider it the most beautiful and bewitching planet. After all, the rings of Saturn (what this magnificence consists of, we will tell in one of the following sections of the article) almost constantly change their color and each time their photo surprises with new shades. Therefore, the gas giant is one of the most recognizable among the other planets.

The mass of Saturn (5.68 × 10 26 kg) is extremely large compared to the Earth, we will talk about this a little later. But the diameter of the planet, which, according to the latest data, is more than one hundred and twenty thousand kilometers, confidently brings it to second place in the solar system. Only Jupiter, the leader in this list, can argue with Saturn.

The gas giant has its own atmosphere, magnetic fields and a huge number of satellites, which were gradually discovered by astronomers. Interestingly, the density of the planet is noticeably less than the density of water. Therefore, if your imagination allows you to imagine a huge pool filled with water, then be sure that Saturn will not drown in it. Like a huge inflatable ball, it will slowly slide over the surface.

Origin of the gas giant

Despite the fact that Saturn has been actively explored by spacecraft over the past decades, scientists still cannot confidently say exactly how the planet was formed. To date, two main hypotheses have been put forward, which have their followers and opponents.

The Sun and Saturn are often compared in composition. Indeed, they contain a large concentration of hydrogen, which allowed some scientists to hypothesize that our star and the planets of the solar system were formed at almost the same time. Massive gas accumulations became the ancestors of Saturn and the Sun. However, none of the supporters of this theory can explain why, if I may say so, a planet was formed from the source material in one case, and a star in the other. The differences in their composition, too, no one can yet give a worthy explanation.

According to the second hypothesis, the process of formation of Saturn lasted hundreds of millions of years. Initially, there was the formation of solid particles, which gradually reached the mass of our Earth. However, at some point, the planet lost a large amount of gas, and at the second stage, it actively increased it from outer space by gravity.

Scientists hope that in the future they will be able to discover the secret of the formation of Saturn, but before that they still have many decades of waiting. After all, only the Cassini apparatus, which worked in its orbit for a long thirteen years, managed to get as close as possible to the planet. This autumn, he completed his mission, collecting for observers a huge amount of data that has yet to be processed.

planet orbit

Saturn and the Sun are separated by almost one and a half billion kilometers, so the planet does not get much light and heat from our main luminary. It is noteworthy that the gas giant rotates around the Sun in a slightly elongated orbit. However, in recent years, scientists have argued that almost all planets do this. Saturn makes a complete revolution in almost thirty years.

The planet spins extremely fast around its axis, it takes about ten Earth hours for a revolution. If we lived on Saturn, that is how long a day would last. Interestingly, scientists tried to calculate the full rotation of the planet around its axis several times. During this time, an error of approximately six minutes occurred, which is considered quite impressive in the framework of science. Some scientists attribute it to the inaccuracy of instruments, while others argue that over the years, our native Earth began to rotate more slowly, which allowed errors to form.

Planet structure

Since the size of Saturn is often compared with Jupiter, it is not surprising that the structures of these planets are very similar to each other. Scientists conditionally divide the gas giant into three layers, the center of which is a rocky core. It has a high density and is at least ten times more massive than the Earth's core. The second layer, where it is located, is liquid metallic hydrogen. Its thickness is approximately fourteen and a half thousand kilometers. The outer layer of the planet is molecular hydrogen, the thickness of this layer is measured in eighteen and a half thousand kilometers.

Scientists, studying the planet, found out one interesting fact - it emits two and a half times more radiation into outer space than it receives from the star. They tried to find a definite explanation for this phenomenon, drawing a parallel with Jupiter. However, until now, this remains another mystery of the planet, because the size of Saturn is smaller than its “brother”, which emits much more modest amounts of radiation into the outside world. Therefore, today such activity of the planet is explained by the friction of helium flows. But how viable this theory, scientists cannot say.

Planet Saturn: composition of the atmosphere

If you observe the planet through a telescope, it becomes noticeable that the color of Saturn has a somewhat muted pale orange hue. On its surface, stripe-like formations can be noted, which are often formed into bizarre shapes. However, they are not static and quickly transform.

When we talk about gaseous planets, it is rather difficult for the reader to understand exactly how the difference between the conditional surface and the atmosphere can be determined. Scientists also faced a similar problem, so it was decided to determine a certain starting point. It is in it that the temperature begins to drop, and here astronomers draw an invisible boundary.

Saturn's atmosphere is almost ninety-six percent hydrogen. Of the constituent gases, I would also like to name helium, it is present in an amount of three percent. The remaining one percent is divided among themselves by ammonia, methane and other substances. For all living organisms known to us, the atmosphere of the planet is destructive.

The thickness of the atmospheric layer is close to sixty kilometers. Surprisingly, Saturn, like Jupiter, is often referred to as the "planet of storms." Of course, by the standards of Jupiter, they are insignificant. But for earthlings, a wind of almost two thousand kilometers per hour will seem like the real end of the world. Such storms occur on Saturn quite often, sometimes scientists notice formations in the atmosphere that resemble our hurricanes. In a telescope, they look like vast white spots, and hurricanes are extremely rare. Therefore, observing them is considered a great success for astronomers.

Rings of Saturn

The color of Saturn and its rings is approximately the same, although this "belt" sets a huge number of problems for scientists that they are not yet able to solve. It is especially difficult to answer questions about the origin and age of this splendor. To date, the scientific community has put forward several hypotheses on this topic, which no one can yet prove or disprove.

First of all, many young astronomers are interested in what the rings of Saturn are made of. Scientists can answer this question quite accurately. The structure of the rings is very heterogeneous, it consists of billions of particles that move at great speed. The diameter of these particles ranges from one centimeter to ten meters. They are ninety-eight percent ice. The remaining two percent are represented by various impurities.

Despite the impressive picture that the rings of Saturn present, they are very thin. Their thickness, on average, does not even reach a kilometer, while their diameter reaches two hundred and fifty thousand kilometers.

For simplicity, the rings of the planet are usually called one of the letters of the Latin alphabet, three rings are considered the most noticeable. But the second is considered the most striking and beautiful.

Ring formation: theories and hypotheses

Since ancient times, people have puzzled over exactly how the rings of Saturn were formed. Initially, a theory was put forward about the simultaneous formation of the planet and its rings. However, later this version was refuted, because scientists were struck by the purity of the ice, of which the “belt” of Saturn consists. If the rings had the same age as the planet, then their particles would be covered with a layer that can be compared to dirt. Since this did not happen, the scientific community had to look for other explanations.

The theory about the exploded satellite of Saturn is considered traditional. According to this statement, approximately four billion years ago, one of the planet's satellites came too close to it. According to scientists, its diameter could reach up to three hundred kilometers. Under the influence of the tidal force, it was torn into billions of particles that formed the rings of Saturn. The version about the collision of two satellites is also considered. Such a theory seems the most plausible, but recent data make it possible to determine the age of the rings as one hundred million years.

Surprisingly, the particles of the rings constantly collide with each other, form into new formations, and thus make it difficult to study them. Modern scientists are still unable to solve the mystery of the formation of the "belt" of Saturn, which has added to the list of mysteries of this planet.

Moons of Saturn

The gas giant has a huge number of satellites. Forty percent of all known systems revolve around it. To date, sixty-three moons of Saturn have been discovered, and many of them present no less surprises than the planet itself.

The size of satellites ranges from three hundred kilometers to more than five thousand kilometers in diameter. The easiest way for astronomers to discover large moons, most of them were able to describe in the late eighties of the eighteenth century. It was then that Titan, Rhea, Enceladus and Iapetus were discovered. These moons are still of great interest to scientists and are closely studied by them.

Interestingly, all the moons of Saturn are very different from each other. They are united by the fact that they are always turned to the planet with only one side and rotate almost synchronously. The three moons of greatest interest to astronomers are:

• Titanium.
• Enceladus.

Titan is the second largest in the solar system. It is not surprising that it is second only to one of the satellites of Titan, half the size of the Moon, and the size is comparable to Mercury and even exceeds it. Interestingly, the composition of this giant moon of Saturn contributed to the formation of the atmosphere. In addition, there is liquid on it, which puts Titan on a par with the Earth. Some scientists even suggest that there may be some form of life on the moon's surface. Of course, it will be significantly different from the earth, because the atmosphere of Titan consists of nitrogen, methane and ethane, and on its surface you can see lakes of methane and islands with a bizarre relief formed by liquid nitrogen.

Enceladus is an equally amazing satellite of Saturn. Scientists call it the brightest celestial body in the solar system because of its surface, completely covered with an ice crust. Scientists are sure that under this layer of ice lies a real ocean, in which living organisms may well exist.

Rhea recently surprised astronomers. After numerous shots, they were able to see several thin rings around her. It is too early to talk about their composition and size, but this discovery was shocking, because previously it was not even assumed that rings could rotate around the satellite.

Saturn and Earth: a comparative analysis of these two planets

Comparisons between Saturn and Earth are rarely made by scientists. These celestial bodies are too different to compare them with each other. But today we decided to expand the reader's horizons a little and still look at these planets with a fresh look. Is there anything in common between them?

First of all, it comes to mind to compare the mass of Saturn and the Earth, this difference will be incredible: the gas giant is ninety-five times larger than our planet. In size, it exceeds the Earth nine and a half times. Therefore, in its volume, our planet can fit more than seven hundred times.

Interestingly, the gravity on Saturn will be ninety-two percent of the earth's gravity. If we assume that a person weighing one hundred kilograms is transferred to Saturn, then his weight will decrease to ninety-two kilograms.

Every student knows that the earth's axis has a certain angle of inclination relative to the sun. This allows the seasons to change each other, and people enjoy all the beauties of nature. Surprisingly, Saturn's axis has a similar tilt. Therefore, the planet can also observe the change of seasons. However, they do not have a pronounced character and it is quite difficult to trace them.

Like the Earth, Saturn has its own magnetic field, and recently scientists have witnessed a real aurora that spilled over the conditional surface of the planet. It pleased with the duration of the glow and bright purple hues.

Even from our small comparative analysis it is clear that both planets, despite the incredible differences, have something that unites them. Perhaps this makes scientists constantly turn their gaze towards Saturn. However, some of them laughingly say that if it were possible to look at both planets side by side, then the Earth would look like a coin, and Saturn would look like an inflated basketball.

Studying the gas giant that is Saturn is a process that puzzles scientists all over the world. More than once they sent probes and various apparatuses to him. Since the last mission was completed this year, the next one is scheduled only for 2020. However, now no one can say whether it will take place. For several years, negotiations have been underway on Russia's participation in this large-scale project. According to preliminary calculations, the new device will take about nine years to get into the orbit of Saturn, and another four years to study the planet and its largest satellite. Based on the foregoing, one can be sure that the disclosure of all the secrets of the planet of storms is a matter of the future. Perhaps you, our readers today, will also take part in this.

Known since ancient times - Saturn - is the sixth planet of our solar system, famous for its rings. It is part of four gas giant planets such as Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. With its size (diameter = 120,536 km), it is second only to Jupiter and is the second largest in the entire solar system. She was named after the ancient Roman god Saturn, who among the Greeks was called Kronos (a titan and the father of Zeus himself).

The planet itself, along with the rings, can be seen from Earth, even with an ordinary small telescope. A day on Saturn is 10 hours and 15 minutes, and the period of rotation around the Sun is almost 30 years!
Saturn is a unique planet because its density is 0.69 g/cm³, which is less than the density of water 0.99 g/cm³. An interesting pattern follows from this: if it were possible to immerse the planet in a huge ocean or pool, then Saturn could stay on the water and swim in it.

Structure of Saturn

The structure of Saturn and Jupiter have many similarities, both in composition and in the main characteristics, but their appearance is quite noticeably different. In Jupiter, bright tones stand out, while in Saturn, they are noticeably muted. Due to the smaller number in the lower layers of the cloud-shaped formations, the bands on Saturn are less visible. Another similarity with the fifth planet: Saturn gives off more heat than it receives from the Sun.
The atmosphere of Saturn is almost entirely composed of hydrogen 96% (H2), 3% of helium (He). Less than 1% are methane, ammonia, ethane and other elements. The percentage of methane, although insignificant in the atmosphere of Saturn, does not prevent it from taking an active part in the absorption of solar radiation.
In the upper layers, the minimum temperature is recorded, -189 ° C, but when immersed in the atmosphere, it increases significantly. At a depth of about 30 thousand km, hydrogen changes and becomes metallic. It is liquid metallic hydrogen that creates a magnetic field of enormous power. The core in the center of the planet turns out to be stone-iron.
When studying gaseous planets, scientists are faced with a problem. After all, there is no clear boundary between the atmosphere and the surface. The problem was solved in the following way: they take for a certain zero height "zero" the point at which the temperature starts counting in the opposite direction. In fact, this is what happens on Earth.

When imagining Saturn, any person immediately conjures up its unique and amazing rings. Research carried out with the help of AMS (automatic interplanetary stations) showed that 4 gaseous giant planets have their own rings, but only near Saturn they have such good visibility and spectacularity. There are three main rings of Saturn, named rather uncomplicatedly: A, B, C. The fourth ring is much thinner and less noticeable. As it turned out, the rings of Saturn are not one solid body, but billions of small celestial bodies (pieces of ice), ranging in size from a grain of dust to several meters. They move at approximately the same speed (about 10km/s) around the equatorial part of the planet, sometimes colliding with each other.

Photos from the AMC showed that all visible rings are made up of thousands of small rings interspersed with empty, unfilled space. For clarity, you can imagine an ordinary record, Soviet times.
The unique shape of the rings at all times haunted neither scientists nor ordinary observers. They all tried to find out their structure and understand how and why they were formed. At different times, various hypotheses and assumptions were put forward, for example, that they formed along with the planet. Currently, scientists are leaning towards the meteorite origin of the rings. This theory has also received observational confirmation, since the rings of Saturn are periodically updated and are not something stable.

Satellites of Saturn

Saturn currently has about 63 discovered moons. The vast majority of satellites are turned to the planet by the same side and rotate synchronously.

Christian Huygens, was honored to discover the second largest satellite, after Ganimer, in the entire solar system. It is larger than Mercury in size, and its diameter is 5155 km. Titan's atmosphere is red-orange: 87% nitrogen, 11% argon, 2% methane. Naturally, methane rains pass there, and there should be seas on the surface, which include methane. However, the Voyager 1 spacecraft, which explored Titan, could not see its surface through such a dense atmosphere.
Enceladus is the brightest solar body in the entire solar system. It reflects over 99% of the sunlight due to its almost white water ice surface. Its albedo (a characteristic of a reflective surface) is greater than 1.
Also of the more famous and most studied satellites, it is worth noting Mimas, Tepheus and Dione.

Characteristics of Saturn

Mass: 5.69 * 1026 kg (95 times the Earth)
Diameter at equator: 120536 km (9.5 times the size of Earth)
Pole diameter: 108,728 km
Axis Tilt: 26.7°
Density: 0.69 g/cm³
Top layer temperature: approx. -189 °C
Period of revolution around its own axis (length of day): 10 hours 15 minutes
Distance from the Sun (average): 9.5 AU e. or 1430 million km
Orbital period around the Sun (year): 29.5 years
Orbital speed: 9.7 km/s
Orbital eccentricity: e = 0.055
Orbital inclination to the ecliptic: i = 2.5°
Free fall acceleration: 10.5 m/s²
Satellites: there are 63 pcs.

Saturn- a planet of the solar system with rings: size, mass, orbit, composition, surface, satellites, atmosphere, temperature, research by devices with photos.

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and perhaps the most beautiful object in the solar system.

It is the most distant planet from a star that can be found from Earth without the use of a telescope or binoculars. So its existence has been known for a long time. Before you is one of the four gas giants, located 6th in order from the Sun. You will be curious to know what planet Saturn is, but first, get acquainted with interesting facts about the planet Saturn.

Interesting facts about the planet Saturn

Can be found without tools

• Saturn is the 5th brightest planet in the solar system, so you can see it with binoculars or a telescope.

He was seen by ancient people

• The Babylonians and the inhabitants of the far east watched him. Named after the Roman Titan (similar to the Greek Kronos).

The flattest planet

• The polar diameter covers 90% of the equatorial one, which is based on a low density index and rapid rotation. The planet performs an axial revolution every 10 hours and 34 minutes.

A year is 29.4 years long

• The ancient Assyrians, because of the slowness, nicknamed the planet "Lubadshagush" - "the oldest of the oldest."

There are bands in the upper atmosphere

• The composition of the upper layers of the atmosphere is represented by ammonia ice. Below them are water clouds, and then there are cold mixtures of hydrogen and sulfur.

There are oval storms

• The area above the north pole took on a hexagonal shape (hexagon). Researchers believe that this may be a wave pattern in the upper clouds. There is also a vortex over the south pole that resembles a hurricane.

The planet is represented mainly by hydrogen

• The planet is divided into layers that penetrate Saturn more densely. At great depths, hydrogen becomes metallic. At the heart of the hot interior.

Endowed with the most beautiful ring system

• The rings of Saturn are made of ice fragments and a small admixture of carbonaceous dust. They stretch for 120,700 km, but are incredibly thin - 20 m.

The lunar family includes 62 satellites

• Saturn's moons are icy worlds. The largest are Titan and Rhea. Enceladus may have a subsurface ocean.

Titan has a complex nitrogen atmosphere

• Consists of ice and stone. The frozen surface layer is endowed with lakes of liquid methane and landscapes covered with frozen nitrogen. Can have life.

Sent 4 missions

• These are Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and 2 and Cassini-Huygens.

Size, mass and orbit of the planet Saturn

The average radius of Saturn is 58232 km (equatorial - 60268 km, and polar - 54364 km), which is 9.13 times larger than the earth's. With a mass of 5.6846 × 10 26 kg and a surface area of ​​4.27 × 10 10 km 2 , its volume reaches 8.2713 × 10 14 km 3 .

polar contraction	0.097 96 ± 0.000 18
Equatorial	60,268 ± 4 km
Polar radius	54 36 ± 10 km
Surface area	4.27 10 10 km²
Volume	8.27 10 14 km³
Weight	5.68 10 26 kg 95 terrestrial
Average density	0.687 g/cm³
Acceleration free fall at the equator	10.44 m/s²
Second space velocity	35.5 km/s
equatorial speed rotation	9.87 km/s
Rotation period	10h 34min 13s ± 2s
Axis Tilt	26.73°
declination of the north pole	83.537°
Albedo	0.342 (Bond)
Apparent magnitude	from +1.47 to -0.24
Absolute stellar magnitude	0,3
Angular diameter	9%

The distance from the Sun to the planet Saturn is 1.4 billion km. At the same time, the maximum distance reaches 1,513,783 km, and the minimum - 1,353,600 km.

The average orbital speed reaches 9.69 km / s, and Saturn spends 10759 days to pass around the star. It turns out that one year on Saturn lasts 29.5 Earth years. But here the situation with Jupiter is repeated, where the rotation of the regions occurs at different speeds. The shape of Saturn resembles an oblate spheroid.

The composition and surface of the planet Saturn

You already know which planet Saturn is. It is a gas giant represented by hydrogen and gas. The average density of 0.687 g / cm 3 is surprising. That is, if you place Saturn in a huge reservoir, the planet will remain afloat. It has no surface, but has a dense core. The fact is that heating, density and pressure increase with the proximity to the core. The structure is explained in detail in the bottom photo of Saturn.

Scientists believe that Saturn resembles Jupiter in structure: a rocky core around which hydrogen and helium are concentrated with a small admixture of volatile substances. The composition of the core may resemble that of the Earth, but with an increased density due to the presence of metallic hydrogen.

Inside the planet, the temperature rises to 11,700°C, and the amount of energy radiated is 2.5 times what it receives from the Sun. In a sense, this is due to the slow gravitational contraction of the Kelvin-Helmholtz. Or it's all about rising droplets of helium from the depths into the hydrogen layer. In this case, heat is released and helium is taken away from the outer layers.

Calculations in 2004 say that the core should be 9-22 times larger than the earth's mass, and the diameter should be 25,000 km. It is surrounded by a dense layer of liquid metallic hydrogen followed by helium-saturated molecular hydrogen. The outermost layer extends for 1000 km and is represented by gas.

Satellites of the planet Saturn

Saturn boasts 62 moons, of which only 53 have official names. Among them, in 34, the diameter does not reach 10 km, and 14 - from 10 to 50 km. But some inner satellites extend 250-5000 km.

Most of the satellites were named after the titans from the myths of Ancient Greece. The innermost moons are endowed with slight orbital inclinations. But irregular satellites in the most separated areas are located millions of kilometers and can make a round in several years.

The interior includes Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys and Dione. They are represented by water ice and may have a rocky core, icy mantle and crust. The smallest is Mimas with a diameter of 396 km and a mass of 0.4 x 10 20 kg. The shape resembles an egg, it is 185.539 km away from the planet, which is why it takes 0.9 days to orbit the passage.

Enceladus with indicators of 504 km and 1.1 x 10 20 kg has a spherical speed. It takes 1.4 days to pass around the planet. It is one of the smallest spherical moons, but is endogenously and geologically active. This caused the appearance of parallel faults at the southern polar latitudes.

Large geysers were noticed in the south polar area. These jets serve as a source for replenishing the E ring. They are important because they can hint at the presence of life on Enceladus, because the water comes from the underground ocean. The albedo is 140%, so it is one of the brightest objects in the system. Below you can admire the photo of the satellites of Saturn.

With a diameter of 1066 km, Tethys is the second largest moon of Saturn. Most of the surface is represented by craters and hills, as well as a small number of plains. Distinguished crater Odysseus, stretching for 400 km. There is also a system of canyons that deepens by 3-5 km, stretches for 2000 km, and is 100 km wide.

The largest inner moon is Dione - 1112 km and 11 x 10 20 kg. Its surface is not only ancient, but also heavily damaged by impacts. Some craters reach a diameter of 250 km. There is also evidence of geological activity in the past.

The outer satellites are located outside the E-ring and are represented by water ice and rock. This is Rhea with a diameter of 1527 km and a mass of 23 x 10 20 kg. It is 527.108 km away from Saturn, and spends 4.5 days on an orbital passage. The surface is also littered with craters and several large faults are visible on the rear hemisphere. There are two large impact basins with a diameter of 400-500 km.

Titan extends for 5150 km, and its mass is 1.350 x 10 20 kg (96% of the mass of the orbit), which is why it is considered the largest satellite of Saturn. It is the only large moon with its own atmospheric layer. It is cold, dense, and holds nitrogen and methane. There are small amounts of hydrocarbons and ice crystals of methane.

The surface is difficult to see due to the dense atmospheric haze. Only a few crater formations, cryo-volcanoes and longitudinal dunes are visible. This is the only body in the system with methane-ethane lakes. Titan is 1,221,870 km away and is believed to have an underground ocean. It takes 16 days to go around the planet.

Hyperion lives near Titan. With a diameter of 270 km, it is inferior in size and mass to Mimas. This is an egg-shaped brown object that, due to the crater surface (2-10 km in diameter), resembles a sponge. There is no predictable rotation.

Iapetus extends for 1470 km, and in terms of mass it occupies 1.8 x 10 20 kg. This is the most distant moon, located at 3,560,820 km, which is why it takes 79 days to pass. It has an interesting composition because one side is dark and the other is lighter. Because of this, they are called yin and yang.

The Inuit include 5 moons named after Inuit mythology: Ijirak, Kiviok, Paliak, Ciarnak and Tarkek. Their prograde orbits range from 11.1-17.9 million km, and their diameter is 7-40 km. Orbital inclinations are 45-50°.

Gallic family - outer satellites: Albiorix, Befin, Erripo and Tarvos. Their orbits are 16-19 million km, the inclination is from 35° to -40°, the diameter is 6-32 km, and the eccentricity is 0.53.

There is a Scandinavian group - 29 retrograde moons. Their diameter is 6-18 km, distance is 12-24 million km, inclination is 136-175°, and eccentricity is 0.13-0.77. Sometimes they are called the Thebes family in honor of the largest satellite, stretching for 240 km. Then follows Ymir - 18 km.

Between the inner and outer moons lives a group of Alcoinids: Methon, Anfa and Pallene. They are the smallest moons of Saturn. Some large moons have their own small ones. So Tethys has Telesto and Calypso, and Dion has Helena and Polydeuces.

Atmosphere and temperature of the planet Saturn

Saturn's outer atmosphere is 96.3% molecular hydrogen and 3.25% helium. There are also heavier elements, but there is little information about their proportions. Propane, ammonia, methane, acetylene, ethane and phosphine were found in small quantities. The upper cloud cover is represented by ammonia crystals, and the lower cloud cover is represented by ammonium hydrosulfide or water. UV rays lead to metaline photolysis, which causes chemical reactions of the hydrocarbon.

The atmosphere looks striated, but the lines weaken and widen towards the equator. There is a division into upper and lower layers, differing in composition based on pressure and depth. The upper ones are represented by ammonia ice, where the pressure is 0.5–2 bar and the temperature is 100–160 K.

At a pressure level of 2.5 bar, a line of ice clouds begins, which stretches to 9.5 bar, and heating is 185-270 K. Here, ammonium hydrosulfide bands mix at a pressure of 3-6 bar and a temperature of 290-235 K. The lower layer is represented by ammonia in an aqueous solution with indicators of 10-20 bar and 270-330 K.

Sometimes long-period ovals form in the atmosphere. The most famous is the Great White Spot. Created every Saturnian year at the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere.

Spots wide can stretch for several thousand km and were noted in 1876, 1903, 1933, 1960 and 1990. Since 2010, the "northern electrostatic disturbance" noticed by Cassini has been monitored. If these clouds adhere to periodicity, then next time we will note the appearance in 2020.

In terms of wind speed, the planet is in second place after Neptune. Voyager recorded an indicator of 500 m / s. A hexagonal wave is noticeable at the north pole, and a massive jet stream is visible at the south pole.

For the first time, the hexagon was seen in the photographs of Voyager. Its sides extend for 13,800 km (larger than Earth's diameter), and the structure rotates in 10 hours, 39 minutes and 24 seconds. The south pole vortex was observed with the Hubble telescope. There is a wind with an acceleration of 550 km / h, and the storm is similar in size to our planet.

Rings of the planet Saturn

It is believed that these are old rings and could have formed along with the planet. There are two theories. One says that earlier the rings were a satellite that collapsed due to a close approach to the planet. Or the rings were never part of the satellite, but are a remnant of the nebular material from which Saturn itself emerged.

They are divided into 7 rings, between which a gap is established. A and B are the densest and cover 14,600 and 25,300 km in diameter. They extend 92000-117580 km (B) and 122170-136775 km (A) from the center. The Cassini Division occupies 4,700 km.

C is separated from B by 64 km. It occupies a width of 17,500 km, and is removed from the planet by 74,658-92,000 km. Together with A and B, it contains the main rings with larger particles. Next come dusty rings, because they have small particles.

D occupies 7500 km and extends inward for 66900-75510 km. At the other end are G (9000 km and a distance of 166,000-175,000 km) and E (300,000 km and a distance of 166,000-480,000 km). F is located on the outer edge of A and is harder to classify. Mostly it's dust. It covers 30-500 km in width and extends for 140-180 km from the center.

History of the study of the planet Saturn

Saturn can be found without the use of telescopes, so it was seen by ancient people. Mentions are found in legends and mythology. The earliest records belong to Babylon, where the planet was recorded with reference to the sign of the zodiac.

The ancient Greeks called this giant Kronos, who was the god of agriculture and was the youngest of the titans. Ptolemy was able to calculate the orbital passage of Saturn when the planet was in opposition. In Rome, they used the Greek tradition and gave today's name.

In ancient Hebrew, the planet was called Shabbatai, and in the Ottoman Empire, Zuhal. Hindus have Shani, who judges everyone, evaluating good and bad deeds. The Chinese and Japanese called it the earth star, considering it one of the elements.

But the planet was observed only in 1610, when Galileo saw it through his telescope and the rings were discovered. But the scientist thought that these were two satellites. Only Christian Huygens corrected the mistake. He also found Titan, and Giovanni Cassini found Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys and Dione.

The next important step was taken by William Herschel in 1789, when he found Mimas and Enceladus. And in 1848, Hyperion appears.

Drawing of Saturn by Robert Hooke (1666)

Phoebus was found in 1899 by William Pickering, who guessed that the satellite has an irregular orbit and rotates synchronously with the planet. In the 20th century, it became clear that Titan had a thick atmosphere that had not been seen before. The planet Saturn is an interesting object for research. On our website you can study his photo, watch a video about the planet and learn many more interesting facts. Below is a map of Saturn.

Photo taken from the Cassini spacecraft

The planet Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. Everyone knows about this planet. Almost everyone can easily recognize her, because his rings are his calling card.

General information about the planet Saturn

Do you know what her famous rings are made of? The rings are composed of ice stones ranging in size from microns to several meters. Saturn, like all giant planets, consists mainly of gases. Its rotation varies from 10 hours and 39 minutes to 10 hours and 46 minutes. These measurements are based on radio observations of the planet.

Image of the planet Saturn

Using the latest propulsion systems and launch vehicles, the spacecraft will take at least 6 years and 9 months to arrive at the planet.

At the moment, the only Cassini spacecraft has been in orbit since 2004, and it has been the main supplier of scientific data and discoveries for many years now. For children, the planet Saturn, as in principle for adults, is truly the most beautiful of the planets.

General characteristics

The largest planet in the solar system is Jupiter. But the title of the second largest planet belongs to Saturn.

Just for comparison, the diameter of Jupiter is about 143 thousand kilometers, and Saturn is only 120 thousand kilometers. Jupiter is 1.18 times the size of Saturn and 3.34 times its mass.

In fact, Saturn is very large, but light. And if the planet Saturn is immersed in water, it will float on the surface. The planet's gravity is only 91% of Earth's.

Saturn and Earth differ in size by a factor of 9.4 and in mass by a factor of 95. The volume of a gas giant could fit 763 planets like ours.

Orbit

The time of a complete revolution of the planet around the Sun is 29.7 years. Like all planets in the solar system, its orbit is not a perfect circle, but has an elliptical trajectory. The distance to the Sun is on average 1.43 billion km, or 9.58 AU.

The closest point of Saturn's orbit is called perihelion and it is located 9 astronomical units from the Sun (1 AU is the average distance from the Earth to the Sun).

The most distant point of the orbit is called aphelion and it is located 10.1 astronomical units from the Sun.

Cassini crosses the plane of Saturn's rings.

One of the interesting features of Saturn's orbit is as follows. Like the Earth, Saturn's axis of rotation is tilted relative to the plane of the Sun. Halfway through its orbit, Saturn's south pole faces the Sun, and then the north. During the Saturnian year (almost 30 Earth years), there come periods when the planet is seen edge-on from the Earth and the plane of the giant's rings coincides with our angle of view, and they disappear from sight. The thing is that the rings are extremely thin, so from a great distance it is almost impossible to see them from the edge. The next time the rings will disappear for the Earth observer in 2024-2025. Since Saturn's year is almost 30 years long, since Galileo first observed it through a telescope in 1610, it has circled the Sun about 13 times.

Climatic features

One of the interesting facts is that the planet's axis is inclined to the plane of the ecliptic (like that of the Earth). And just like ours, there are seasons on Saturn. Halfway through its orbit, the Northern Hemisphere receives more solar radiation, and then everything changes and the Southern Hemisphere is bathed in sunlight. This creates huge storm systems that change significantly depending on the location of the planet in orbit.

Storm in Saturn's atmosphere. Composite image, artificial colors, MT3, MT2, CB2 filters and infrared data were used

The seasons influence the planet's weather. Over the past 30 years, scientists have found that wind speeds around the planet's equatorial regions have decreased by about 40%. NASA's Voyager probes in 1980-1981 found wind speeds as high as 1,700 km/h, and currently only about 1,000 km/h (measured in 2003).

Saturn completes one revolution around its axis in 10.656 hours. It took scientists a lot of time and research to find such an accurate figure. Since the planet has no surface, it is not possible to observe the passage of the same areas of the planet, thus estimating its rotation speed. Scientists used the planet's radio emissions to estimate the rate of rotation and find the exact length of the day.

Image gallery

Pictures of the planet taken by the Hubble telescope and the Cassini spacecraft.

Physical properties

Hubble telescope image

The equatorial diameter is 120,536 km, 9.44 times that of the Earth;

The polar diameter is 108,728 km, 8.55 times that of the Earth;

The area of ​​the planet is 4.27 x 10 * 10 km2, which is 83.7 times larger than that of the Earth;

Volume - 8.2713 x 10 * 14 km3, 763.6 times larger than that of the Earth;

Mass - 5.6846 x 10 * 26 kg, 95.2 times more than that of the Earth;

Density - 0.687 g / cm3, 8 times less than that of the Earth, Saturn is even lighter than water;

This information is incomplete, in more detail about the general properties of the planet Saturn, we will write below.

Saturn has 62 moons, in fact about 40% of the moons in our solar system revolve around it. Many of these satellites are very small and not visible from Earth. The latter were discovered by the Cassini spacecraft, and scientists expect that over time the device will find even more icy satellites.

Despite the fact that Saturn is too hostile for any form of life that we know that its moon Enceladus is one of the most suitable candidates for the search for life. Enceladus is notable for having ice geysers on its surface. There is some mechanism (probably Saturn's tidal action) that creates enough heat for liquid water to exist. Some scientists believe that there is a chance of life on Enceladus.

Planet formation

Like the rest of the planets, Saturn formed from the solar nebula about 4.6 billion years ago. This solar nebula was a vast cloud of cold gas and dust that may have collided with another cloud, or a supernova shock wave. This event initiated the beginning of the contraction of the protosolar nebula with the further formation of the solar system.

The cloud contracted more and more until a protostar formed in the center, which was surrounded by a flat disk of material. The inner part of this disk contained more heavy elements, and formed the terrestrial planets, while the outer region was cold enough and, in fact, remained untouched.

The material from the solar nebula formed more and more planetesimals. These planetesimals collided together, merging into planets. At some point in Saturn's early history, its moon, about 300 km across, was torn apart by its gravity and created the rings that still orbit the planet today. In fact, the main parameters of the planet directly depended on the place of its formation and the amount of gas that it could capture.

Since Saturn is smaller than Jupiter, it cools faster. Astronomers believe that as soon as its outer atmosphere cooled down to 15 degrees Kelvin, helium condensed into droplets that began to sink towards the core. The friction of these droplets heated up the planet, and now it emits about 2.3 times more energy than it receives from the Sun.

Ring formation

View of the planet from space

The main distinguishing feature of Saturn is the rings. How are the rings formed? There are several versions. The conventional theory is that the rings are nearly as old as the planet itself and have been around for at least 4 billion years. In the giant's early history, a 300 km satellite got too close to it and was torn to pieces. There is also the possibility that two satellites collided together, or a large enough comet or asteroid hit the satellite, and it simply fell apart right in orbit.

Alternative hypothesis for ring formation

Another hypothesis is that there was no destruction of the satellite. Instead, the rings, as well as the planet itself, formed from the solar nebula.

But here's the problem: the ice in the rings is too clean. If the rings formed with Saturn, billions of years ago, then we would expect them to be completely covered in dirt from micrometeor impacts. But today we see that they are as pure as if they were formed less than 100 million years ago.

It is possible that the rings are constantly renewing their material by sticking together and colliding with each other, making it difficult to determine their age. This is one of the mysteries yet to be solved.

Atmosphere

Like the rest of the giant planets, Saturn's atmosphere is 75% hydrogen and 25% helium, with trace amounts of other substances such as water and methane.

Atmospheric features

The planet's appearance, in visible light, appears calmer than that of Jupiter. The planet has bands of clouds in the atmosphere, but they are pale orange and barely visible. The orange color is due to sulfur compounds in its atmosphere. In addition to sulfur, in the upper atmosphere, there are small amounts of nitrogen and oxygen. These atoms react with each other and, under the influence of sunlight, form complex molecules that resemble smog. At various wavelengths of light, as well as improved Cassini images, the atmosphere looks much more impressive and turbulent.

Winds in the atmosphere

The planet's atmosphere generates some of the fastest winds in the solar system (faster only on Neptune). The NASA spacecraft Voyager, which flew by Saturn, measured the wind speed, it turned out to be in the region of 1800 km / h at the planet's equator. Large white storms form within the bands that orbit the planet, but unlike Jupiter, these storms last only a few months and are absorbed by the atmosphere.

Clouds in the visible part of the atmosphere are composed of ammonia, and are located 100 km below the upper part of the troposphere (tropopause), where the temperature drops to -250 ° C. Below this boundary, the clouds are composed of ammonium hydrosulfide and are approximately 170 km lower. In this layer, the temperature is only -70 degrees C. The deepest clouds consist of water and are located about 130 km below the tropopause. The temperature here is 0 degrees.

The lower, the more the pressure and temperature increase and the gaseous hydrogen slowly turns into a liquid.

Hexagon

One of the strangest weather phenomena ever discovered is the so-called northern hexagonal storm.

Hexagonal clouds around the planet Saturn were first discovered by Voyagers 1 and 2 after they visited the planet more than three decades ago. More recently, Saturn's hexagon has been photographed in great detail by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, currently in orbit around Saturn. The hexagon (or hexagonal vortex) is about 25,000 km in diameter. It can fit 4 such planets as the Earth.

The hexagon rotates at exactly the same speed as the planet itself. However, the North Pole of the planet is different from the South Pole, in the center of which there is a huge hurricane with a giant funnel. Each side of the hexagon has a size of about 13,800 km, and the entire structure makes one revolution around the axis in 10 hours and 39 minutes, just like the planet itself.

Reason for the formation of a hexagon

So why is the North Pole vortex shaped like a hexagon? Astronomers find it difficult to answer this question 100%, but one of the experts and team members in charge of the Cassini visual and infrared spectrometer said: “This is a very strange storm that has precise geometric shapes with six almost identical sides. We have never seen anything like it on other planets."

Gallery of images of the planet's atmosphere

Saturn is the planet of storms

Jupiter is known for its violent storms, which are clearly visible through the upper atmosphere, especially the Great Red Spot. But there are also storms on Saturn, although they are not so big and intense, but compared to the Earth ones, they are simply huge.

One of the largest storms was the Great White Spot, also known as the Great White Oval, which was observed by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990. Such storms probably occur once a year on Saturn (once every 30 Earth years).

atmosphere and surface

The planet is very reminiscent of a ball, made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium. Its density and temperature change as you move deeper into the planet.

Composition of the atmosphere

The planet's outer atmosphere consists of 93% molecular hydrogen, the rest helium and trace amounts of ammonia, acetylene, ethane, phosphine and methane. It is these trace elements that create the visible stripes and clouds that we see in the pictures.

Nucleus

General scheme diagram of the structure of Saturn

According to the theory of accretion, the core of the planet is rocky with a large mass, sufficient to capture a large amount of gases in the early solar nebula. Its core, like that of other gas giants, would have to form and become massive much faster than other planets in order to have time to acquire primary gases.

The gas giant most likely formed from rocky or icy components, and the low density indicates liquid metal and rock impurities in the core. It is the only planet whose density is lower than that of water. In any case, the internal structure of the planet Saturn is more like a ball of thick syrup with impurities of stone fragments.

metallic hydrogen

Metallic hydrogen in the core generates a magnetic field. The magnetic field created in this way is slightly weaker than that of the Earth and extends only to the orbit of its largest satellite Titan. Titan contributes to the appearance of ionized particles in the planet's magnetosphere, which create auroras in the atmosphere. Voyager 2 detected high solar wind pressure on the planet's magnetosphere. According to measurements made during the same mission, the magnetic field only extends over 1.1 million km.

Planet size

The planet has an equatorial diameter of 120,536 km, 9.44 times that of Earth. The radius is 60268 km, which makes it the second largest planet in our solar system, second only to Jupiter. It, like all other planets, is an oblate spheroid. This means that its equatorial diameter is larger than the diameter measured through the poles. In the case of Saturn, this distance is quite significant, due to the high speed of the planet's rotation. The polar diameter is 108728 km, which is 9.796% less than the equatorial diameter, so the shape of Saturn is oval.

Around Saturn

Day length

The rotational speed of the atmosphere and the planet itself can be measured by three different methods. The first one is measuring the speed of the planet's rotation in the cloud layer in the equatorial part of the planet. It has a rotation period of 10 hours and 14 minutes. If measurements are taken in other areas of Saturn, then the rotation speed will be 10 hours 38 minutes and 25.4 seconds. To date, the most accurate method for measuring the length of the day is based on the measurement of radio emission. This method gives a planetary rotation speed of 10 hours 39 minutes and 22.4 seconds. Despite these figures, the rate of rotation of the interior of the planet at present cannot be accurately measured.

Again, the equatorial diameter of the planet is 120,536 km, and the polar one is 108,728 km. It is important to know why this difference in these numbers affects the planet's rotation rate. The same situation is on other giant planets, especially the difference in the rotation of different parts of the planet is expressed in Jupiter.

The length of the day according to the radio emission of the planet

With the help of radio emission that comes from the inner regions of Saturn, scientists were able to determine its period of rotation. Charged particles trapped in its magnetic field emit radio waves when they interact with Saturn's magnetic field, at about 100 kilohertz.

The Voyager probe measured the planet's radio emission for nine months as it flew by in the 1980s, and the rotation was determined to be 10 hours 39 minutes 24 seconds, with an error of 7 seconds. The spacecraft Ulysses also took measurements 15 years later, and gave a result of 10 hours 45 minutes 45 seconds, with a 36 second error.

It turns out as much as 6 minutes of difference! Either the planet's rotation has slowed down over the years, or we've missed something. The Cassini interplanetary probe measured these same radio emissions with a plasma spectrometer, and scientists, in addition to the 6-minute difference in 30-year measurements, found that the rotation also changes by one percent per week.

Scientists think this could be due to two things: the solar wind coming from the Sun interferes with the measurements, and particles from Enceladus' geysers affect the magnetic field. Both of these factors cause the radio emission to change, and they can cause different results at the same time.

New data

In 2007, it was found that some of the planet's point sources of radio emission do not match Saturn's rotational speed. Some scientists believe that the difference is due to the influence of the moon Enceladus. Water vapor from these geysers enters the orbit of the planet and is ionized, thereby affecting the magnetic field of the planet. This slows down the rotation of the magnetic field, but only slightly compared to the rotation of the planet itself. The current estimate of Saturn's rotation, based on various measurements from the Cassini, Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft, is 10 hours 32 minutes and 35 seconds as of September 2007.

Cassini's basic characteristics of the planet suggest that the solar wind is the most likely cause of the difference in the data. Differences in measurements of the rotation of the magnetic field occur every 25 days, which corresponds to the rotation period of the Sun. The speed of the solar wind is also constantly changing, which must be taken into account. Enceladus can make long-term changes.

gravity

Saturn is a giant planet and does not have a solid surface, and what is impossible to see is its surface (we see only the upper cloud layer) and feel the force of gravity. But let's imagine that there is some conditional boundary that will correspond to its imaginary surface. What would be the force of gravity on the planet if you could stand on the surface?

Although Saturn has a greater mass than the Earth (the second largest mass in the solar system, after Jupiter), it is also the “lightest” of all the planets in the solar system. The actual gravity at any point on its imaginary surface would be 91% of that on Earth. In other words, if your scale shows you weigh 100 kg on Earth (oh, horror!), on the "surface" of Saturn you would weigh 92 kg (slightly better, but still).

For comparison, on the "surface" of Jupiter, gravity is 2.5 times greater than Earth's. On Mars, only 1/3, and on the Moon 1/6.

What makes the force of gravity so weak? The giant planet mainly consists of hydrogen and helium, which he accumulated at the very beginning of the formation of the solar system. These elements were formed at the beginning of the Universe as a result of the Big Bang. All due to the fact that the planet has an extremely low density.

planet temperature

Voyager 2 image

The uppermost layer of the atmosphere, which is located on the border with space, has a temperature of -150 C. But, as you dive into the atmosphere, the pressure rises and, accordingly, the temperature rises. At the core of the planet, the temperature can reach 11,700 C. But where does such a high temperature come from? It is formed due to the huge amount of hydrogen and helium, which, as it sinks into the bowels of the planet, contracts and heats up the core.

Thanks to gravitational contraction, the planet actually generates heat, releasing 2.5 times more energy than it receives from the Sun.

At the bottom of the cloud layer, which is made up of water ice, the average temperature is -23 degrees Celsius. Above this layer of ice is ammonium hydrosulfide, with an average temperature of -93 C. Above it are clouds of ammonia ice that color the atmosphere orange and yellow.

What does Saturn look like and what color is it

Even looking through a small telescope, the color of the planet is visible as a pale yellow with hints of orange. With more powerful telescopes such as the Hubble or NASA's Cassini spacecraft, you can see thin layers of clouds and storms that are a mixture of white and orange. But what gives Saturn its color?

Like Jupiter, the planet is composed almost entirely of hydrogen, with a small amount of helium, as well as minor amounts of other compounds such as ammonia, water vapor, and various simple hydrocarbons.

Only the upper layer of clouds, which mainly consists of ammonia crystals, is responsible for the color of the planet, and the lower level of clouds is either ammonium hydrosulfide or water.

Saturn has a striped atmosphere similar to that of Jupiter, but the stripes are much weaker and wider near the equator. It also doesn't have long-lived storms—nothing like the Great Red Spot—that often occur when Jupiter approaches the northern hemisphere's summer solstice.

Some of the photos provided by Cassini appear blue, similar to Uranus. But that's probably because we're seeing light scattering from Cassini's point of view.

Compound

Saturn in the night sky

Rings around the planet have captured the imagination of people for hundreds of years. It was also natural to want to know what the planet was made of. Through various methods, scientists have learned that Saturn's chemical composition is 96% hydrogen, 3% helium, and 1% various elements that include methane, ammonia, ethane, hydrogen, and deuterium. Some of these gases can be found in its atmosphere, in liquid and molten states.

The state of gases changes with increasing pressure and temperature. At the top of the clouds, you will encounter ammonia crystals, at the bottom of the clouds with ammonium hydrosulfide and / or water. Beneath the clouds, atmospheric pressure increases, which causes an increase in temperature and the hydrogen turns into a liquid state. As we move deeper into the planet, pressure and temperature continue to increase. As a result, in the nucleus, hydrogen becomes metallic, passing into this special state of aggregation. The planet is believed to have a loose core, which, in addition to hydrogen, consists of rocks and some metals.

Modern space exploration has led to many discoveries in the Saturn system. Research began with the flyby of the Pioneer 11 spacecraft in 1979. This mission discovered the F ring. Voyager 1 flew by the following year, sending surface details of some of the satellites back to Earth. He also proved that the atmosphere on Titan is not transparent to visible light. In 1981, Voyager 2 visited Saturn and detected changes in the atmosphere, and also confirmed the presence of the Maxwell and Keeler gaps that Voyager 1 first saw.

After Voyager 2, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft arrived in the system, which went into orbit around the planet in 2004, you can read more about its mission in this article.

Radiation

When NASA's Cassini lander first arrived at the planet, it detected thunderstorms and radiation belts around the planet. He even found a new radiation belt located inside the planet's ring. The new radiation belt is 139,000 km from the center of Saturn and extends up to 362,000 km.

Northern Lights on Saturn

Video showing northern, created from images from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Cassini spacecraft.

Due to the presence of a magnetic field, the charged particles of the Sun are captured by the magnetosphere and form radiation belts. These charged particles move along the lines of the magnetic force field and collide with the planet's atmosphere. The mechanism of the occurrence of the aurora is similar to that of the Earth, but due to the different composition of the atmosphere, the auroras on the giant are purple, in contrast to the green ones on Earth.

Saturn's aurora as seen by the Hubble telescope

Aurora Gallery

nearest neighbors

What is the closest planet to Saturn? It depends on where in the orbit it is at the moment, as well as the position of other planets.

For most of the orbit, the closest planet is . When Saturn and Jupiter are at their minimum distance from each other, they are only 655,000,000 km apart.

When they are located on opposite sides of each other, the planets Saturn and sometimes come very close to each other and at this moment they are separated by 1.43 billion km from each other.

General information

The following planet facts are based on NASA planetary bulletins.

Weight - 568.46 x 10 * 24 kg

Volume: 82,713 x 10*10 km3

Average radius: 58232 km

Average diameter: 116,464 km

Density: 0.687 g/cm3

First escape velocity: 35.5 km/s

Free fall acceleration: 10.44 m/s2

Natural satellites: 62

Distance from the Sun (major axis of the orbit): 1.43353 billion km

Orbital period: 10,759.22 days

Perihelion: 1.35255 billion km

Aphelion: 1.5145 billion km

Orbital speed: 9.69 km/s

Orbital inclination: 2.485 degrees

Orbit eccentricity: 0.0565

Sidereal rotation period: 10.656 hours

Period of rotation around the axis: 10.656 hours

Axial Tilt: 26.73°

Who discovered: it has been known since prehistoric times

Minimum distance from Earth: 1.1955 billion km

Maximum distance from Earth: 1.6585 billion km

Maximum apparent diameter from Earth: 20.1 arc seconds

Minimum apparent diameter from Earth: 14.5 arc seconds

Apparent brilliance (maximum): 0.43 magnitudes

Story

Space image taken by the Hubble telescope

The planet is clearly visible to the naked eye, so it's hard to say when the planet was first discovered. Why is the planet called Saturn? It is named after the Roman god of the harvest - this god corresponds to the Greek god Kronos. That is why the origin of the name is Roman.

Galileo

Saturn and its rings were a mystery until Galileo first built his primitive but working telescope and looked at the planet in 1610. Of course, Galileo didn't understand what he was seeing and thought the rings were large moons on either side of the planet. That was before Christian Huygens used the best telescope to see that they weren't really moons, but rings. Huygens was also the first to discover the largest moon, Titan. Despite the fact that the visibility of the planet allows it to be observed from almost everywhere, its satellites, like the rings, are visible only through a telescope.

Jean Dominique Cassini

He discovered a gap in the rings, later named Cassini, and was the first to discover 4 satellites of the planet: Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys and Dione.

William Herschel

In 1789, astronomer William Herschel discovered two more moons, Mimas and Enceladus. And in 1848, British scientists discovered a satellite called Hyperion.

Before the flight of spacecraft to the planet, we knew not so much about it, despite the fact that you can even see the planet with the naked eye. In the 70s and 80s, NASA launched the Pioneer 11 spacecraft, which was the first spacecraft to visit Saturn, passing within 20,000 km of the planet's cloud layer. It was followed by the launches of Voyager 1 in 1980, and Voyager 2 in August 1981.

In July 2004, NASA's Cassini lander arrived in the Saturn system, and compiled the most detailed description of the planet Saturn and its system from observations. Cassini has made nearly 100 flybys of Titan's moon, several flybys of many other moons, and sent us thousands of images of the planet and its moons. Cassini discovered 4 new moons, a new ring, and discovered seas of liquid hydrocarbons on Titan.

Extended animation of Cassini flight in the Saturn system

Rings

They are made up of ice particles orbiting the planet. There are several main rings that are clearly visible from Earth, and astronomers use special designations for each of Saturn's rings. But how many rings does the planet Saturn actually have?

Rings: view from Cassini

Let's try to answer this question. The rings themselves are divided into the following parts. The two densest parts of the ring are designated A and B, separated by the Cassini gap, followed by the C ring. After the 3 main rings, there are smaller, dusty rings: D, G, E, and the F ring, which is the . So how many main rings? That's right - 8!

These three main rings and 5 dust rings make up the bulk. But there are several more rings, such as Janus, Meton, Pallene, as well as the arcs of the Anf ring.

There are also smaller rings, and gaps in various rings that are difficult to count (for example, the Encke gap, the Huygens gap, the Dawes gap, and many others). Further observation of the rings will make it possible to clarify their parameters and number.

Disappearing rings

Due to the inclination of the planet's orbit, the rings become edge-on every 14-15 years, and due to the fact that they are very thin, they actually disappear from the field of view of Earth observers. In 1612, Galileo noticed that the satellites he discovered had disappeared somewhere. The situation was so strange that Galileo even abandoned observations of the planet (most likely as a result of the collapse of hopes!). He had discovered the rings (and mistook them for satellites) two years earlier and was instantly fascinated by them.

Ring parameters

The planet is sometimes referred to as the "Pearl of the Solar System" because its ring system looks like a crown. These rings are made up of dust, stone, and ice. That is why the rings do not break up, because. it is not whole, but consists of billions of particles. Some of the material in the ring system is the size of grains of sand, and some objects are larger than tall buildings, reaching a kilometer across. What are rings made of? Mostly ice particles, although there are also dust rings. The striking thing is that each ring rotates at a different speed with respect to the planet. The average density of the planet's rings is so low that stars can be seen through them.

Saturn is not the only planet with a ring system. All gas giants have rings. The rings of Saturn stand out because they are the largest and brightest. The rings are about one kilometer thick and span up to 482,000 km from the center of the planet.

Saturn's rings are named in alphabetical order according to the order in which they were discovered. This makes the rings a bit confusing, listing them out of order from the planet. Below is a list of the main rings and the gaps between them, as well as the distance from the center of the planet and their width.

Structure of the rings
Designation	Distance from the center of the planet, km	Width, km
D ring	67 000-74 500	7500
Ring C	74 500-92 000	17500
Colombo gap	77 800	100
Maxwell slit	87 500	270
bond gap	88 690-88 720	30
Daves gap	90 200-90 220	20
Ring B	92 000-117 500	25 500
Division of Cassini	117 500-122 200	4700
Huygens gap	117 680	285-440
Herschel's gap	118 183-118 285	102
Russell's slit	118 597-118 630	33
Jeffreys gap	118 931-118 969	38
Kuiper Gap	119 403-119 406	3
Laplace slit	119 848-120 086	238
Bessel gap	120 236-120 246	10
Barnard's slit	120 305-120 318	13
Ring A	122 200-136 800	14600
Encke Gap	133 570	325
Keeler's slit	136 530	35
Roche division	136 800-139 380	2580
E/2004 S1	137 630	300
E/2004 S2	138 900	300
F ring	140 210	30-500
G ring	165 800-173 800	8000
E ring	180 000-480 000	300 000

The sounds of the rings

In this wonderful video, you hear the sounds of the planet Saturn, which are the radio emission of the planet translated into sound. Kilometer-range radio emission is generated along with auroras on the planet.

The Cassini Plasma Spectrometer made high-resolution measurements that allowed scientists to convert radio waves into audio by frequency shifting.

The emergence of rings

How did the rings appear? The simplest answer to why the planet has rings and what they are made of is that the planet has accumulated a lot of dust and ice at various distances from itself. These elements have most likely been captured by gravity. Although some believe that they were formed as a result of the destruction of a small satellite that came too close to the planet and fell into the Roche limit, as a result of which it was torn to pieces by the planet itself.

Some scientists suggest that all the material in the rings is the product of satellite collisions with asteroids or comets. After the collision, the remnants of the asteroids were able to escape the gravitational pull of the planet and formed rings.

Regardless of which of these versions is correct, the rings are quite impressive. In fact, Saturn is the lord of the rings. After exploring the rings, it is necessary to study the ring systems of other planets: Neptune, Uranus and Jupiter. Each of these systems is weaker, but still interesting in its own way.

Gallery of pictures of rings

Life on Saturn

It is hard to imagine a less hospitable planet for life than Saturn. The planet is composed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium, with trace amounts of water ice in the lower cloud layer. The temperature at the top of the clouds can drop to -150 C.

As you descend into the atmosphere, the pressure and temperature will increase. If the temperature is warm enough to keep the water from freezing, then the pressure of the atmosphere at this level is the same as a few kilometers below the Earth's ocean.

Life on the satellites of the planet

To find life, scientists offer to look at the planet's satellites. They are made up of a significant amount of water ice, and their gravitational interaction with Saturn likely keeps their interiors warm. The moon Enceladus is known to have geysers of water on its surface that erupt almost continuously. It is possible that it has huge reserves of warm water under the ice crust (almost like Europe).

Another moon, Titan, has lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbons and is thought to be a place with the potential to create life. Astronomers believe that Titan is very similar in composition to Earth in its early history. After the Sun turns into a red dwarf (in 4-5 billion years), the temperature on the satellite will become favorable for the origin and maintenance of life, and a large amount of hydrocarbons, including complex ones, will be the primary “broth”.

position in the sky

Saturn and its six moons, amateur photo

Saturn is visible in the sky as a fairly bright star. The current coordinates of the planet are best specified in specialized planetarium programs, such as Stellarium, and events related to its coverage or passage over a particular region, as well as everything about the planet Saturn, can be peeped in the article 100 astronomical events of the year. The confrontation of the planet always provides a chance to look at it in maximum detail.

Upcoming confrontations

Knowing the ephemerides of the planet and its magnitude, finding Saturn in the starry sky is not difficult. However, if you have little experience, then the search for it can be delayed, so we recommend using amateur telescopes with a Go-To mount. Use a telescope with a Go-To mount and you won't need to know the coordinates of the planet and where it can be seen right now.

Flight to the planet

How long will the space travel to Saturn take? Depending on which route you choose, the flight may take a different amount of time.

For example: It took Pioneer 11 six and a half years to reach the planet. Voyager 1 took three years and two months, Voyager 2 took four years, and the Cassini spacecraft took six years and nine months! The New Horizons spacecraft used Saturn as a gravitational springboard on its way to Pluto and arrived two years and four months after launch. Why such a huge difference in flight times?

The first factor determining flight time

Let's consider whether the spacecraft is launched directly to Saturn, or does it use other celestial bodies along the way as a slingshot?

The second factor determining flight time

This is a type of spacecraft engine, and the third factor is whether we are going to fly by the planet or enter its orbit.

With these factors in mind, let's look at the missions mentioned above. Pioneer 11 and Cassini used the gravitational influence of other planets before heading towards Saturn. These flybys of other bodies added years to an already long trip. Voyager 1 and 2 used only Jupiter on their way to Saturn and arrived much faster. The New Horizons ship had several distinct advantages over all other probes. The two main advantages are that it has the fastest and most advanced engine and was launched on a short trajectory to Saturn on its way to Pluto.

Research stages

Panoramic image of Saturn taken on July 19, 2013 by the Cassini spacecraft. In the discharged ring on the left, the white dot is Enceladus. The ground is visible below and to the right of the center of the image.

In 1979, the first spacecraft reached the giant planet.

Pioneer-11

Created in 1973, Pioneer 11 flew by Jupiter and used the planet's gravity to change its trajectory and head towards Saturn. He arrived on September 1, 1979, passing 22,000 km above the planet's cloud layer. For the first time in history, he conducted close-up studies of Saturn and transmitted close-up photographs of the planet, discovering a previously unknown ring.

Voyager 1

NASA's Voyager 1 probe was the next spacecraft to visit the planet on November 12, 1980. He flew 124,000 km from the planet's cloud layer, and sent a stream of truly priceless photographs to Earth. They decided to send Voyager 1 to fly around the satellite of Titan, and send its twin brother Voyager 2 to other giant planets. As a result, it turned out that although the apparatus transmitted a lot of scientific information, it did not see the surface of Titan, since it is opaque to visible light. Therefore, in fact, the ship was sacrificed in favor of the largest satellite, on which scientists had high hopes, but in the end they saw an orange ball, without any details.

Voyager 2

Shortly after the Voyager 1 flyby, Voyager 2 flew into the Saturn system and carried out an almost identical program. It reached the planet on August 26, 1981. In addition to orbiting the planet at a distance of 100,800 km, he flew close to Enceladus, Tethys, Hyperion, Iapetus, Phoebe and a number of other moons. Voyager 2, having received a gravitational acceleration from the planet, headed towards Uranus (successful flyby in 1986) and Neptune (successful flyby in 1989), after which it continued its journey to the borders of the solar system.

Cassini-Huygens

Views of Saturn from Cassini

NASA's Cassini-Huygens probe, which arrived at the planet in 2004, was able to truly study the planet from a permanent orbit. As part of its mission, the spacecraft delivered the Huygens probe to the surface of Titan.

TOP 10 images of Cassini

Cassini has now completed his main mission and has continued to study the system of Saturn and its moons for many years now. Among his discoveries, it is worth noting the discovery of geysers on Enceladus, seas and lakes of hydrocarbons on Titan, new rings and satellites, as well as data and photographs from the surface of Titan. Scientists plan to end the Cassini mission in 2017 due to cuts in NASA's budget for planetary exploration.

Future missions

The next Titan Saturn System Mission (TSSM) should not be expected until 2020, but rather much later. Using gravitational maneuvers near the Earth and Venus, this device will be able to reach Saturn approximately in 2029.

A four-year flight plan is envisaged, in which 2 years are allotted for the study of the planet itself, 2 months for the study of the surface of Titan, in which the landing module will be involved, and 20 months for studying the satellite from orbit. Russia may also take part in this truly grandiose project. The future involvement of the federal agency Roscosmos is already under discussion. While this mission is far from being realized, we still have the opportunity to enjoy the fantastic images of Cassini, which he transmits regularly and which everyone has access to just a few days after their transmission to Earth. Good luck exploring Saturn!

Answers to the most common questions

1. Who was the planet Saturn named after? In honor of the Roman god of fertility.
2. When was Saturn discovered? It has been known since ancient times, and it is impossible to establish who was the first to determine that this is a planet.
3. How far is Saturn from the Sun? The average distance from the Sun is 1.43 billion km, or 9.58 AU.
4. How to find it in the sky? It is best to use search maps and specialized software, such as Stellarium.
5. What are the coordinates of the site? Since this is a planet, its coordinates change, you can find out the ephemerides of Saturn on specialized astronomical resources.

Saturn is one of the five planets in the solar system that are easily visible to the naked eye from Earth. At its maximum, the brightness of Saturn exceeds the first magnitude.

Observing Saturn for the first time through a telescope in 1609-1610, Galileo Galilei noticed that Saturn does not look like a single celestial body, but like three bodies that almost touch each other, and suggested that these are two large "companions" (satellites) of Saturn . Two years later, Galileo repeated his observations and, to his amazement, found no satellites.

In 1659, Huygens, using a more powerful telescope, found out that the "companions" are actually a thin flat ring encircling the planet and not touching it. Huygens also discovered Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Since 1675, Cassini has been studying the planet. He noticed that the ring consists of two rings separated by a clearly visible gap - the Cassini gap, and discovered several more large satellites of Saturn.

In 1979, the Pioneer 11 spacecraft first flew near Saturn, followed by Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 in 1980 and 1981. These devices were the first to detect the magnetic field of Saturn and explore its magnetosphere, observe storms in the atmosphere of Saturn, take detailed pictures of the structure of the rings and find out their composition.

In the 1990s, Saturn, its moons and rings were repeatedly studied by the Hubble Space Telescope. Long-term observations have provided a lot of new information that was not available to Pioneer 11 and Voyagers during their single flyby of the planet.

In 1997, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft was launched to Saturn and, after seven years of flight, on July 1, 2004, it reached the Saturn system and went into orbit around the planet. The main objectives of this mission, designed for at least 4 years, is to study the structure and dynamics of the rings and satellites, as well as to study the dynamics of the atmosphere and magnetosphere of Saturn. In addition, a special probe "Huygens" separated from the apparatus and parachuted down to the surface of Saturn's moon Titan.

		Opening
	G. Galileo	First telescopic observation of Saturn. Drawn as three stars.
		First sketch of Saturn.
	G.H. Huygens
	J. Cassini	The satellite Iapetus opens, 12/23/1672 - the satellite of Rhea, 1675 - the target in the ring, in 1684 the satellites of Tethys and Dione.
	W. Herschel	Determines the rotation period of Saturn.
	I. F. Enke	Opens a second gap in the ring.
	I. G. Galle	Opens the inner ring of Saturn (ring C in ring B).
	J. F. Herschel	Gives a name to the first five discovered satellites.
	D. C. Maxwell	He proved theoretically that rings should consist of many unbound particles (the work was published in 1859).
		The White Spot opens (observed periodically).
	A.A. Belopolsky	Proves the meteor composition of Saturn's rings.
		Methane and ammonia have been discovered in the planet's atmosphere.
	Spacecraft "Pioneer - 11"	Flying on September 1 at 21,400 km from the planet, he discovered the planet's magnetosphere and showed the fine structure of the rings. Two new rings have been opened.
	Spacecraft "Voyager - 1"	November 12 flies past the planet at 123,000 km, explores the Titan satellite, discovers 5 satellites, new rings.
	Spacecraft "Voyager - 2"
	Brett Gladman	During the year, it opens 10 new satellites around the planet.