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Saturn – The Jewel in the Crown
John Anderson
Sun
Pluto ???
Uranus
Jupiter
Earth
Moon
Neptune
Saturn
Mars
Venus
Mercury
Comet
The Terrestrial Planets have an iron
core, a thick mantle and a solid outer
crust.
The Gas Giants have a solid core, a thick
shell of liquid hydrogen, and a thick
atmosphere of 80% hydrogen, plus
helium, ammonia, methane and other
gases.
How big are the Planets ?
Comparative Saturn- Earth Data
Earth
Saturn
Ratio
Distance from
Sun
149 million km
(~ 8.3 light
minutes)
1433 million km
(~ 79 light
minutes)
9.6
Diameter
12,756 km
120,536 km
9.4
Day length
24 hours
10.7 hours
Year
1
29 earth years
Density
5.5
0.687
Moons
1
lots !
0.1
Galileo’s observation of Saturn
Christiaan Huygens 1659
Saturn’s Rings
The dark area in the rings is the Cassini Division
The rings are composed of billions of water ice
particles orbiting the planet.
Range in size from millimetres to large chunks
Saturn’s Rings
Saturn’s Moons
Some of Saturn’s moons
Titan
Rhea
Enceladus
Tethys
Dione
Janus
Saturn’s surface
 What we see is the outer layer of Saturn’s atmosphere
 Looks more tranquil than Jupiter but it does have storms
Probes to Saturn
1. Voyager 1 flyby in 1980
2. Cassini - Huygens 2005
Titan - 1
Titan
Titan is the only moon in the solar system
with a significant atmosphere.
 Atmospheric pressure is 1.6 x that on
Earth. Temperature is -180 C
95% Nitrogen 3% methane 2% hydrogen
It is the only body in the solar system apart
from Earth known to have large areas of
liquid on its surface
Like water on Earth methane exists on
Titan as a liquid, solid and a gas. Rain falls
on Titan in the form of liquid methane.
Saturn in opposition
Saturn – Lord of the Rings