Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and the second biggest in our solar system. Saturn is a gas giant, which means that it doesn’t have a solid surface that a spacecraft could actually land on. Instead, it’s mostly made up of hydrogen and helium with a liquid and metal core. Saturn spins so fast that a full day lasts just under 11 hours, but it takes so long to get around the sun that one year on Saturn is equal to 29 Earth years!
Saturn is the most famous for its rings! While Jupiter, Neptune, and Uranus all have rings, Saturn’s rings are by far the biggest and easiest to see from Earth. The rings are not actually flat discs like they appear to be in pictures, but rather, they’re made up of chunks of space debris, like ice and rocks. The pieces of ice and rock range from the size of dust to the size of buildings, and every size in between.
- Saturn has 146 moons! Some of Saturn’s moons circle Saturn inside of its rings, while others circle outside of the rings.
- Saturn’s largest moon is called Titan. Titan is larger than the planet Mercury.
- Two of Saturn’s moons, Titan and Enceladus, have ice and water and could possibly have life on them someday.
- Saturn is named after an ancient Roman god.
- About 760 Earths could fit inside Saturn.
- Saturn has some of the fastest winds in the solar system, which can reach up to 1,120 mph.
Saturn by Betsy Rathburn
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