Saturn
The second biggest planet in the Solar System
Saturn
- Saturn is 764 times as big volume as Earth and measures 75,000 miles in diameter.
- takes 29½ years to travel around the Sun.
- Saturn complete orbit is a journey of more than 2.8 billion miles.
- not solid planet – Saturn, but made of gases and liquids, almost entirely hydrogen and helium – only in the planet’s very small core is there any solid rock.
- the pressure deep inside is enough to turn hydrogen gas into a liquid, because as Saturn is so big – further down, extreme pressure makes the liquid hydrogen act like a metal.
- despite its size, a day on Saturn rotating in just 10.656 hours long while a day on Earth is 23.934 hours long – this means that Saturn spins at over 21,000 mph.
- winds ten times stronger than a hurricane on Earth swirl around Saturn’s equator, reaching up to 1,250 mph. (video: hurrance)
- surface of Saturn appears smooth because the clouds are hidden under a layer of haze – the Cassini Probe has spotted lightning storms and huge swirling storm near the pole. (more information about Cassini Probe.)
- spacecraft Cassini Probe went into orbit around Saturn on 2004 for four-year studied of Saturn’s clouds, rings and moons.
- Cassini Probe was carried the Huygens Probe to drop through the atmosphere of the largest moon, Titan. It landed the surface so cold that the pebbles were made of solid ice. (diagram)
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