3. Who discovered
Saturn? Saturn, named after the Roman god of the
same name, is the Solar System’s second largest
planet. In Roman mythology, Saturn is the father
of Zeus (Uranus, the planet after it, is the father
of Saturn in the same mythology). It was also part
of the five classical planets—planets that were
known during ancient times due to its visibility
from the Earth.
Babylonian and Hindu astrologers were
already recording the movement of the planet
way before the existence of Nicolas Copernicus’
theory regarding the Solar System and Galileo
Galilee’s telescope. Still, it was these two who
proved that Saturn is part of the Solar System as
a planet, something similar to Earth (which, in
turn, isn’t the center of the universe as was
previously believed).
4. People behind other Saturn discoveries
D include Christian Huygens, Giovanni
Domenico, and William Herschel. Huygens
I discovered Titan, a Saturn moon. Domenico
S discovered four other moons of the planet
namely, Dione, Iapetus, Rhea, and Tethys.
C Herschel discovered two other moons:
Enceladus and Mimas. Herschel also
O discovered Uranus, the planet after Saturn.
V William Henry Pickering, an American
astronomer, discovered Phoebe and a British
E team of astrologers discovered Hyperion. The
R tenth moon, Janus, was discovered by French
astronomer Audouin Doulfus. Previously, the
y tenth moon was believed to be Themis, also
discovered by Pickering.
5. Saturn is perhaps one of the
distinguishable planets in the solar
D system, thanks to its every prominent
I ring system. The sixth planet (if
distinguished from the sun) and also
S largest planet in the solar system next
C to Jupiter, it is one of the four gas giant
O planets, with Neptune, Jupiter, and
Uranus as the other three. The planet is
V actually named after Roman god Saturn,
E the god of agriculture and harvest.
R Saturn has a Greek god equivalent—
Cronos, Zeus’ Titan father. According to
y Greek mythology, Cronos served as the
world’s ruler before Poseidon, Hades,
and Zeus overthrew him.
6. Basically, no one really knows
D when or who, to be exact—
discovered this solar system gas
I
giant. Saturn has been known to
S exist ever since the prehistoric
C times. Of the planets to be first
discovered, Saturn is the farthest.
O
The distance gives Saturn the kind of
V mystique and mystery that made its
E way to numerous mythologies, even
beyond the Roman and Greek ones.
R
Saturn, for instance, played a huge
y part in ancient Asian cultures in
Japan and China and Hindu and
Babylonian astrology.
7. D Further inquiries to the specifics of
Saturn, however, took time. It was
I only during the 1600s when Galileo
S discovered that Saturn had rings,
C although he wrongly hypothesized
that these were moons, Christian
O Huygens discovered that the “moons”
V were actually rings and that the
E planet had an actual moon. Later,
four other Saturn moons were
R discovered by Giovanni Domenico.
y New discoveries were further fleshed
out until the early 1940s.
9. Saturn is
composed of 96%
hydrogen, 3%
helium, and 1%
various trace
elements that
include methane,
ammonia, ethane,
and hydrogen
deuteride. Several
of these gases can
be found in gas,
liquid, and molten
states as you
descend into the
planet.
10. Just like the other planets, Saturn
can be divided into different layers as you
descend further down into the planet. The
What topmost part would be the cloud layer. This
is made up of ammonia crystals and right
is below the clouds are water and ammonium
Saturn hydro-sulfide.
Underneath this cloud layer, pressures
Made can rise so much that it reaches the point
wherein hydrogen is compressed and turned
Of? into liquid nitrogen. Then this turns into
metallic hydrogen. Astronomers believe that
the interior of Saturn is actually composed
of rock and metal elements that sank down
to its center during the formation of the
planet itself.
12. The planet’s atmosphere may
appear bland to most, although there
What are long-lived features that are quite
is distinct on it. Saturn also has one of the
most prominent ring systems which are
Saturn composed of ice particles as well as dust
and rock debris. There are 61 known
Made moons that orbit this planet. But there
Of? are also hundreds of moonlets weaving
their way through the rings. In fact, one
of Saturn’s moons, the Titan, is larger
than the planet Mercury and is the only
one in our Solar System that possesses a
significant atmosphere.
13. The planet Saturn is said to be the second
largest among the known planets, having a diameter
of almost 75,000 miles. It is also considered as the
What sixth planet to orbit around the sun at a distance of
about 885 million miles. For an orbit to be
Is completed, a calculation of almost 28.5 years should
The be taken despite the fact that its rotation is just for
over 10.5 hours. Considered as a gas giant, it is
Planet known for having no surface but a rocky inner core
with a layer composing of liquid metallic hydrogen.
Look A feature that is most striking in the planet
Like? Saturn is its ring system. Its ring system consists of a
number of ice chunks in which sizes can be compared
to dust particles estimated to be 10 meters big. The
spaces in between these chunks are known to be
large enough to enable probes to cross through them
without any damage. It is said to have seven major
rings and numerous smaller ringlets held by shepherd
moons in place. The largest ring is known to be about
180,000 miles across.
14. When it comes to the planet’s
number of moons, Saturn owns 60.
What The largest of its moons is referred
to as Titan, which is bigger
Is compared to that from Mercury with
The 3,200 miles in diameter. It contains
within it thick nitrogen atmosphere.
Planet Based on researches and probing
Look made for Saturn, it has been
discovered that the planet has
Like? within it what can be viewed as
river channels and shoreline. It can
also be described as a surface full of
rocks surrounded with an orange
haze.
15. Saturn’s outer atmosphere is
composed of 96.3% molecular hydrogen and
A 3.25% helium. The rest are made up of
small amounts of acetylene, ammonia,
T phosphine, methane, and ethane. The
M clouds located at the upper part of Saturn
O are made up of ammonia crystals. The
clouds located on the lower levels of the
S atmosphere are made off either h2o or
P ammonium hydrosulfide. Helium is notably
H deficient on Saturn.
E Saturn’s atmosphere forms a banded
R pattern. Saturn’s winds are one of the
E fastest in the Solar System. According to
the satellite Voyager, the winds can go up
to 500 m/s.
16. Long-lived ovals have been observed on Saturn’s atmosphere.
The Hubble Space Telescope found a large white cloud close to the
equator in 1991 which was not seen in previous Voyager orbits. This is
has been given a nickname, “Great White Spot.” Such a storm occurs
once every year in Saturn. Take note that one Saturn year is
equivalent to 30 Earth years. The most famous storm happened on
1933. The next storm is said to occur in the year 2020.
The Cassini spacecraft brought back images of Saturn. The
images show its northern hemisphere as being bright blue in color.
This color cannot be seen on Earth because it is being blocked by its
rings. Rayleigh scattering is said to be the cause of the blue color. The
polar vortex of Saturn is warm. This is a unique feature of Saturn and
no other planet exhibits something similar to this. This is the warmest
part of Saturn.
A hexagon shaped cloud pattern has been seen around the
north polar vortex. It is still unknown as to why it is shaped that way.
Astronomers think that a standing-wave pattern in the atmosphere
causes it to be in that shape but some think that the hexagon shape is
a novel aurora.
