Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech |
Saturn |
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| Saturn is a huge
gas planet with the most noticeable feature of any planet in the Solar
System - it's rings. Like Jupiter's, these rings are made of bits of
rock and ice which orbit the planet. These range in size from as small
as a Mini car to as big as a house. The actual surface of the planet
is quite featureless. |
Saturn spins
so fast on its axis that it flattens out at the top and bottom of the
planet, and bulges at the equator. Saturn's
rings move at speeds of up to 1,100 miles per hour! There are
seven major rings, which are about six miles thick. Saturn's
atmosphere has winds which can blow at over 1,118 mph. The white
spots on Saturn are believed to be powerful storms. Saturn has
18 named moons, the largest of which is Titan, and at least 12 more which
have not been named. Did you know
that if it would fit, Saturn would float on water? This is because
it is made up mostly of hydrogen and helium - the gas that
they put in most balloons.
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This year
Saturn's largest moon, Titan (pictured left) became the most distant
object from Earth ever to be studied by a probe. As part of the
Cassini-Huygens mission, the probe Huygens was parachuted down to
Titan's surface. The picture on the right is the first colour
image of the surface, taken during that descent on 14th January 2005.
Images Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech
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