The second-largest planet in the solar system is Saturn. It is the farthest planet from Earth that is visible to the naked eye, but its rings are better seen through a telescope. Although the other gas giants in the solar system, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, also have rings, Saturn's rings are particularly prominent, earning it the nickname the Ringed Planet.
It is the second largest planet in the solar system with a volume greater than 760 Earths. The Ringed Planet is the least dense of all the planets, and the only one that is less dense than water. If there was a bathtub big enough to hold it, it would float.
The yellow and gold bands are the result of winds in the upper atmosphere that can reach up to 1,100 mph (1,800 km/h) around its equator. Every ten minutes, the moon rotates. The high-speed spin of the planet causes it to bulge at its equator and flatten at its poles. The planet is around 80,000 miles from the equator to the pole.
The first to see the rings was Galileo, who used a telescope. In 1655, Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens proposed that there was a thin, flat ring around the planet.
Scientists continued to learn more about the structure and composition of the rings as they developed better instruments. There are billions of particles of ice and rock in the rings of Saturn, ranging in size from a grain of sugar to the size of a house. The particles are believed to be debris from comets, asteroids or shattered moons. A study suggested the rings may be the carcasses of dwarf planets.
The largest ring is 7,000 times the diameter. The main rings are only 30 feet (9 meters) thick, but the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft revealed that some of the rings are more than 2 miles (3 km) high.
The rings were discovered in chronological order. The main rings are known as C, B and A, while the D ring is so big that it could fit a billion Earths within it. The gap between rings B and A is 2,920 miles.
Mysterious spokes have been seen in the rings of Saturn, which appear to form and disappear within a few hours. The spokes may be composed of sheets of dust-size particles created by small meteors impacting the rings or by electron beams from the planet.
The braided appearance of the F Ring is odd. The ring is made of several narrower rings and can give the illusion of braided strands. The appearance of the rings has been altered by impacts from asteroids and comets.
The closest other spaceship to the rings was the Cassini. The data collected by the probe is still being analyzed, but it has already provided insights about the colors of some of the moons. In the gaps between the rings, the probe found complex chemicals in the ring rain and made new measurements of the planet's magnetic field.
There are at least 62 moons. The largest moon in the solar system is slightly larger than Mercury, and is the second largest moon behind Jupiter.
Some of the moons are very large. Pan and Atlas are shaped like flying saucers. A number of these satellites are referred to as shepherd moons because they interact with ring material.
Scientists have identified many moons, but other small moons are constantly being created and destroyed.
As the most massive planet in the solar system after Jupiter, the pull of Saturn's gravity has helped shape the fate of our solar system. It may have helped hurl Neptune and Uranus outward. Along with Jupiter, it may have slung debris to the inner planets early in the system's history.
Scientists are still learning about how gas giants form, and run models on early solar system formation to understand the role that Jupiter, Saturn and other planets play in our solar system. A study suggests that Jupiter steers dangerous asteroids away from Earth.
Pioneer 11 flew within 13,700 miles of the Ringed Planet in 1979. Astronomers were able to see two of the planet's outer rings, as well as the presence of a strong magnetic field. Astronomers discovered that the planet's rings are made of thinner ringlets. The data sent back by the craft led to the discovery of three moons.
The largest interplanetary craft ever built was the Cassini spacecraft. The probe weighed in at 6 tons. It helped identify the Enceladus moon and carried the probe that landed on its surface.
After a decade of observation, Cassini returned incredible data about the Ringed Planet and its moons, as well as a photo re-creating the original Pale Blue Dot image, which captures Earth from behind Saturn. The mission ended in September of last year when the craft crashed into the planet to avoid a potential collision with a moon.
There are no plans for future missions to investigate the icy moon Enceladus. In 2034, NASA plans to send a lander to Titan with the name Dragonfly. Dragonfly will use its many onboard instruments to search for the chemical building block for life on Titan.
You can learn more about Saturn on the NASA website. You can read more about the missions in the new tab. The Saturn system and the planets history can be explored in greater detail by checking out "The Saturn System Through the Eyes of Cassini" by NASA.
Space Science Reviews, Volume 18, October 1975, "The rings of Saturn", is open in a new tab.
Linda Splinker and Cassidy-Huygens explored the Saturn system for 13 years.
Facts about Saturn are open in a new tab.
The article "Saturn: Composition and Chemistry" was published in Springer in 2009.
The late origin of the Saturn system was written by Asphaug and Reufer.
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