Gas Giant

Dun/grey striped

Diameter: 75,000 miles

Rotation: 0.5 days

Orbit: 29 years

Temperature Average: -139 C

Moons: 33

Number from the sun: 6

Distance from the sun: 886 million miles

Saturn has thirty-three moons. It is made of gas and has cloud belts. Saturn has rings made of rocks, dust, and ice.

Saturn is named after the Roman god of farming. Saturn is a yellow-white planet. Galileo is a famous astronomer who studied Saturn. He noticed something strange about it. It looked like Saturn had handles on each side. Galileo was not sure what these things were. Later astronomers found out that these were really rings.

Saturn has several moons. Its largest moon is named Titan. When astronomers used stronger telescopes, they found out that Saturn had several rings. Scientists also found out that these rings were not solid, but were made of dust and other small things. Saturn is also covered by clouds, so we cannot see its surface.

One day on Saturn lasts 10 ½ earth hours. One year on Saturn is the same as 29 ½ Earth years. Saturn is the second largest planet. We could fit 800 Earths inside Saturn. Saturn is also a very cold planet. It is colder than our North Pole!

In 1979 we sent a probe to Saturn. This probe found out that the clouds on Saturn have swirls on them. These swirls are storms. Another probe found out that Saturn has dozens and dozens of rings. Some of the pieces of dust and ice in these rings are as big as houses! We also found that Saturn has strong winds. Most of Saturn’s moons are made of ice.

Think about it:  Why is Saturn a cold planet?

To learn more about Saturn, visit this site:  http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/saturn/