November 2, 2008

All About The Planet Saturn

Saturn is the most visually striking planet in the Solar System. It is the second largest gas giant behind Jupiter and is surrounded by a spectacular series of rings. Saturn is the sixth furthest planet from the Sun at 1,400 million km away and is named after the Roman God Saturnus. The rings are made from icy particles and dust, Saturn has around 60 moons as well as the only moon with a stable atmosphere, Titan.
Saturn has a small core made from ice and rock with the rest of the planet being chiefly hydrogen and helium. There are thought to be liquid metallic hydrogen and liquid hydrogen and helium layers surrounding the core before the gaseous outer layers.
The inside of Saturn can reach extremely hot temperatures, with the interior temperature of 11,700 degrees C thought to be due to the Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism of gravitational compression. The atmosphere of Saturn is not as strikingly active as the one on Jupiter, but it does display some of the same characteristics. The gases have a banded appearance and there is evidence of cloud layers and storms.
The rings of Saturn initially were a great source of confusion for early astronomers, lacking the high-powered telescopes […]

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