Our Solar System - Saturn This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the ringed planet Saturn shows a rare storm that appears as a white arrowhead-shaped feature near the planet's equator. The storm is generated by an upwelling of warmer air, similar to a terrestrial thunderhead. The east-west extent of this storm is equal to the diameter of the Earth (about 7,900 miles).
Our Solar System - Saturn The best view of Saturn's rings in the ultraviolet indicates there is more ice toward the outer part of the rings, than in the inner part, hinting at the origins of the rings and their evolution.
Our Solar System - Saturn This montage of images of the Saturnian system was prepared from an assemblage of images taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft during its Saturn encounter in November 1980.
Our Solar System - Saturn Saturn Saturn, god of harvest or time of reaping (sixth planet from the sun).
Our Solar System - Saturn Discovered By Known by the Ancients Date of Discovery Unknown Distance from the Sun Equatorial Radius Equatorial Circumference 885,904,700 Miles By Comparison: x Earth 37,449 miles By Comparison: x Earth 235,298 miles Revolution Period about the Sun 29.5 years Number of Moons31
Our Solar System - Saturn Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system, second to Jupiter. Its color is somewhat yellow. Since it is one of the planets that are visible with the naked eye, its existence has been known since prehistoric times so we do not know who first discovered the planet. However, it is the faintest of the five visible planets, so it was probably discovered last. The first person to observe the planet using a telescope was Galileo in While he was the first person to see the rings, he was unable to explain what he saw.
Our Solar System - Saturn Many people like Saturn's rings. Although Saturn isn't the only planet with rings, it is the only planet famous for them. Almost every image or drawing of the planet has the rings included. But few people know much about them or why they are there. Saturn's rings are made mostly of ice and rock pieces. It looks like one big band, but is actually many smaller bands combined. The particles range in size from a couple centimeters to over a kilometer in size. The rings are very thin. Although they reach diameters in the hundred thousands kilometers, they are no more than 1.5 km thick. So how can such a thin layer of ice pieces be so beautiful? The ice creates a rainbow effect much like a sprinkler does in the sun. The Sun's rays are refracted by the frozen water, giving us a colorful display!
Our Solar System - Saturn Titan stands in a class by itself as Saturn's largest satellite and the second largest moon in the solar system (after Jupiter's Ganymede). It is even larger than the planets Mercury and Pluto. Titan is the only moon in the solar system with a significant atmosphere, thicker even than Earth's, and composed largely of nitrogen, like Earth's.
Our Solar System - Saturn Titan and Earth, to Scale.