Saturn around the sun time. Saturn: the story of a ringed planet. Oval storms present

Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system and the sixth planet from the Sun. Saturn, just like Uranus, Jupiter and Neptune, are gas giants. The planet got its name in honor of the god of agriculture.

The planet is largely composed of hydrogen, with minor traces of helium and traces of methane, water, ammonia and heavy elements. As for the interior, it is a minor core of nickel, iron and ice, covered with a gaseous outer layer and a small layer of metallic hydrogen. The external atmosphere appears homogeneous and calm when observed from space, although long-term formations are sometimes visible. Saturn has a planetary magnetic field that is intermediate in strength between Jupiter's powerful field and Earth's magnetic field. Wind speeds on the planet can reach up to 1800 km/h, which is much higher than on Jupiter.

Saturn has a prominent ring system that is mainly composed of ice particles with less dust and heavy elements. There are currently 62 known satellites orbiting Saturn. The largest of them is Titan. Among all the satellites, it is the second largest (after Ganymede).

An automatic interplanetary station called Cassini is located in the orbit of Saturn. Scientists launched it back in 1997. And in 2004, it reached the Saturn system, whose tasks include studying the structure of the rings and the dynamics of the magnetosphere and atmosphere.

Planet name

The planet Saturn was named after the Roman god of agriculture. Later he was identified with the leader of the Titans - Kronos. Because the titan Kronos devoured his children, he was not popular among the Greeks. Among the Romans, the god Saturn was held in high esteem and respect. According to ancient legend, he taught humanity to cultivate the land, build houses and grow plants. The times of his supposed reign are said to be the “golden age of mankind”; celebrations were organized in his honor, which were called Saturnalia. During these celebrations, slaves received freedom for a short time. In Indian mythology, the planet corresponds to Shani.

Origin of Saturn

It is worth noting that the origin of Saturn is explained by two main hypotheses (in the same way as with Jupiter). According to the "concentration" hypothesis, the similar composition of Saturn and the Sun is that these celestial bodies have a large proportion of hydrogen. As a result, the low density is explained by the fact that at the initial stages of the development of the Solar system, massive “condensations” formed in the gas-dust disk, which gave rise to planets. It turns out that the planets and the Sun were formed in a similar way. But be that as it may, this hypothesis does not explain the differences in the composition of the Sun and Saturn.

The "accretion" hypothesis says that the process of Saturn's formation consisted of two stages. First, over the course of two hundred million years, the process of formation of solid dense bodies that resembled terrestrial planets took place. During this stage, some of the gas dissipated from the region of Saturn and Jupiter, which in the future affected the difference in the chemical compositions of the Sun and Saturn. After which stage 2 began, during which the largest bodies were able to reach twice the mass of the Earth. Over the course of several hundred thousand years, the process of gas accretion onto these bodies from the primary protoplanetary cloud took place. The temperature at the second stage of the outer layers of the planet reached 2000 °C.

Saturn among other planets

As mentioned above, Saturn is one of the gas planets: it does not have a solid surface and mainly consists of gases. The polar radius of the planet is 54,400 km, the equatorial radius is 60,300 km. Among the other planets, Saturn is characterized by the greatest compression. The planet's weight exceeds the mass of the Earth by 95.2 times, but its average density is less than the density of water. Although the masses of Saturn and Jupiter differ by more than three times, their equatorial diameter differs by only 19%. As for the density of the other gas planets, it is significantly higher and amounts to 1.27-1.64 g/cm3. The acceleration of gravity along the equator is 10.44 m/s2, which is comparable to that of Neptune and Earth, but much less than that of Jupiter.

Rotation and orbital characteristics of Saturn

The average distance between the Sun and Saturn is 1430 million km. Moving at a speed of 9.69 km/s, the planet orbits the Sun in 29.5 years (10,759 days). The distance from Saturn to our planet varies from 8.0 AU. e. (119 million km) to 11.1 a. e. (1660 million km), the average distance during the period of their confrontation is approximately 1280 million km. Jupiter and Saturn are in almost exact resonance 2:5 to the Sun at aphelion and perihelion is 162 million km.

The differential rotation of the planet's atmosphere is similar to the rotation of the atmospheres of Venus and Jupiter, as well as the Sun. A. Williams was the first to discover that the rotation speed of Saturn can vary not only in depth and latitude, but also in time. An analysis of the variability of rotation of the equatorial zone over 200 years showed that the main contribution to this variability is made by the annual and semi-annual cycles.

Atmosphere and structure of Saturn

The upper layers of the atmosphere consist of 96.3% hydrogen and 3.25% helium. There are impurities of ammonia, methane, ethane, phosphine and some other gases. In the upper part of the atmosphere, ammonia clouds are more powerful than Jovian clouds, while the clouds in the lower part consist of water or ammonium hydrosulfide.

According to Voyager data, strong winds blow on the planet. The devices managed to record wind speeds of 500 m/s. They mainly blow in an easterly direction. Their strength weakens simultaneously with the distance from the equator (westerly atmospheric currents may appear). Studies have shown that atmospheric circulation can take place in the layer of upper clouds, but also at a depth of up to 2000 km. Moreover, based on Voyager 2 measurements, it became known that the winds in the northern and southern hemispheres are symmetrical relative to the equator. There is an assumption that symmetrical flows are connected under the layer of the visible atmosphere.

Sometimes stable formations appear in Saturn's atmosphere, which are super-powerful hurricanes. Exactly the same objects can be traced on the rest of the gas planets of the Solar System. About once every 30 years, a “Great White Oval” appears on Saturn, which was last seen in 2010 (not such large hurricanes form more often).

During storms and storms, strong lightning discharges are observed on Saturn. The electromagnetic activity they cause varies over the years from almost complete absence to extremely powerful electrical storms.

On December 28, 2010, the Cassini spacecraft photographed a storm that resembled cigarette smoke. Another strong storm was recorded by astronomers on May 20, 2011.

Internal structure

Deep in the planet’s atmosphere, temperature and pressure increase, and hydrogen turns into a liquid state, but this transition is gradual. At a depth of 30 thousand km, hydrogen becomes metallic (3 million atmospheres - pressure). The magnetic field is created by the circulation of electric currents in metallic hydrogen. It is not as powerful as Jupiter's. In the central part of the planet there is a powerful core of heavy and solid materials - metals, silicates and presumably ice. Its weight is approximately 9 to 22 times the mass of our planet. Core temperature – 11,700°C. It should also be noted that the energy emitted by Saturn into space is two and a half times more than the energy it receives from the Sun. A significant part of this energy is generated due to the Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism. When the temperature drops, the pressure in it decreases accordingly, it decreases, and the energy turns into heat. But such a mechanism cannot be the only source of energy for Saturn. Scientists suggest that the additional heat appears due to condensation and the subsequent fall of helium drops through the hydrogen layer deep into the core. As a result, the potential energy of the droplets turns into thermal energy. The core region, according to scientists, has a diameter of approximately 25 thousand km.

Saturn's moons

The largest moons of Saturn are Enceladus, Mimas, Dione, Tethys, Titan, Rhea and Iapetus. They were first discovered in 1789, but to this day they remain the main objects of research. Their diameters vary from 397 to 5150 km. The mass distribution corresponds to the diameter distribution. Tethys and Dione have the smallest orbital eccentricities, Titan has the largest. All satellites with known parameters are located above the synchronous orbit, which leads to their slow removal.

As of 2010, 62 satellites of Saturn are known. Moreover, 12 of them were discovered by spacecraft: Cassini, Voyager 1, Voyager 2. Most of the satellites, except Phoebe and Hyperion, are characterized by a synchronous rotation of their own - each of them always turns one side towards Saturn. There is no information about the rotation of small satellites. Dione and Tethys are each accompanied by two satellites at the Lagrange points L4 and L5.

Throughout 2006, a team of scientists under the strict leadership of David Jewitt, working in Hawaii, identified nine satellites of Saturn using the Subaru telescope. They classified them as irregular satellites characterized by a retrograde orbit. Their rotation time around Saturn varies from 862 to 1300 days.

The first high-quality images were obtained of one of Tethys’s satellites only in 2015.

It is the second largest after Jupiter, has enormous mass and a dense layer of rings that surround it. The atmosphere of Saturn is a phenomenon that has been the subject of debate among scientists for many years. But today it has been reliably established that it is gases that form the basis of the entire air body, which does not have a solid surface.

The story of the great discovery

For a long time, scientists believed that our system is closed by this huge planet, and there is nothing beyond its orbit. It has been studied since the distant 1610, after Galileo examined Saturn through a telescope and also highlighted the presence of rings in his notes. In those years, no one could have imagined that this celestial body was so different from the Earth, Venus or Mars: it did not even have a surface and consisted entirely of gases heated to unimaginable temperatures. The presence of Saturn's atmosphere was confirmed only in the twentieth century. Moreover, only modern scientists were able to conclude that the planet is a gas ball.

It was studied by the Voyager 1 satellite, which was able to release a probe into the outer regions. Images were obtained that indicated the content of mainly hydrogen in the composition of Saturn’s clouds, as well as many other gases. Since then, research has been carried out only on the basis of theories and calculations. And here it is fair to note that one of the most mysterious and unexplored planets up to the present moment is Saturn.

The presence of the atmosphere, its composition

We know that terrestrial planets, which are in close proximity to the Sun, do not have an atmosphere. But these are solid bodies that consist of stone and metal, have a certain mass and parameters corresponding to it. With gas balloons things are completely different. The atmosphere of Saturn is the basis of itself. Endless gas vapors, mists and clouds gather in incredible quantities and form a spherical shape thanks to the magnetic field of the core.

The basis of the planet's atmosphere is hydrogen: it is over 96 percent. Other gases are present as impurities, the proportions of which depend on the depth. It is worth noting that there are no water crystals, various modifications of ice and other organic substances on Saturn.

Two layers of the atmosphere and their composition

So, the atmosphere of Saturn is divided into two parts: the outer layer and the inner. The first consists of 96.3 percent molecular hydrogen and 3 percent helium. Mixed with these main gases are components such as phosphine, ammonia, methane and ethane. Strong surface waves occur here, reaching 500 m/s. As for the lower layer of the atmosphere, metallic hydrogen predominates here - about 91 percent, as well as helium. This environment contains clouds of ammonium hydrosulfide. The lower atmospheric layer is always heated to the limit. As it approaches the core, the temperature reaches a thousand Kelvin, because it is not yet possible to explore the planet using probes made in terrestrial conditions.

Atmospheric phenomena

The most common phenomena on this planet are winds and hurricanes. Most currents blow from west to east relative to the axial rotation. There is a slight calm near the equator, and as we move away from it, westerly currents appear. There are also places on Saturn where certain events occur with constant frequency. For example, the Great White Oval appears in the southern hemisphere once every thirty years. During such “bad weather,” the atmosphere of Saturn, the composition of which further contributes to this phenomenon, is literally permeated with lightning. Discharges occur predominantly in mid-latitudes, between the equator and the poles. As for the latter, the main phenomenon here is considered to be. Stronger flares occur in the north, since the magnetic field there is stronger than in the south. The radiance appears in the form of oval rings or spirals.

Pressure and temperature

As it turned out, Saturn's atmosphere makes this planet quite cool compared to Jupiter, but, of course, not as icy as Uranus and Neptune. In the upper layers the temperature is about -178 degrees Celsius, taking into account constant winds and hurricanes. The closer we move to the core, the more the pressure increases, and therefore the temperature rises. In the middle layers it is -88 degrees, and the pressure is about a thousand atmospheres. The extreme point that the probe reached was a temperature zone of -3. According to calculations, in the region of the planet’s core the pressure reaches 3 million atmospheres. In this case, the temperature is 11,700

Afterword

We briefly looked at the structure of Saturn's atmosphere. Its composition can be compared with that of Jupiter, and there are also similarities with the ice giants Uranus and Neptune. But, like every ball of gas, Saturn is unique in its structure. Very strong winds blow here, the pressure reaches incredible levels, and the temperature remains cool (by astronomical standards).

Known since ancient times, Saturn is the sixth planet of our solar system, famous for its rings. It is part of the four gas giant planets, such as Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. With its size (diameter = 120,536 km), it is second only to Jupiter and is the second largest in the entire solar system. She was named in honor of the ancient Roman god Saturn, who among the Greeks was called Kronos (titan and father of Zeus himself).

The planet itself, along with its rings, can be seen from Earth, even with an ordinary small telescope. A day on Saturn is 10 hours 15 minutes, and the period of rotation around the Sun is almost 30 years!
Saturn is a unique planet because... its density is 0.69 g/cm³, which is less than the density of water 0.99 g/cm³. An interesting pattern follows from this: if it were possible to immerse the planet in a huge ocean or pool, then Saturn would be able to stay on the water and float in it.

Structure of Saturn

The structure of Saturn and Jupiter have many similarities, both in composition and in basic characteristics, but their appearance is quite noticeably different. Jupiter has bright tones, while Saturn has noticeably muted tones. Due to the smaller number of cloud-like formations in the lower layers, the stripes on Saturn are less noticeable. Another similarity with the fifth planet: Saturn emits more heat than it receives from the Sun.
The atmosphere of Saturn consists almost entirely of hydrogen (96% (H2), 3% helium (He). Less than 1% consists of methane, ammonia, ethane and other elements. Although the percentage of methane is insignificant in the atmosphere of Saturn, this does not prevent it from taking an active part in the absorption of solar radiation.
In the upper layers, a minimum temperature of –189 °C is recorded, but when immersed in the atmosphere, it increases significantly. At a depth of about 30 thousand km, hydrogen changes and becomes metallic. It is liquid metallic hydrogen that creates a magnetic field of enormous power. The core in the center of the planet turns out to be stone-iron.
When studying gaseous planets, scientists encountered a problem. After all, there is no clear boundary between the atmosphere and the surface. The problem was solved in the following way: they take as a certain zero height “zero” the point at which the temperature begins to count in the opposite direction. As a matter of fact, this is what happens on Earth.

Imagining Saturn, any person immediately conjures up its unique and amazing rings. Research carried out using AMS (automatic interplanetary stations) has shown that 4 gaseous giant planets have their own rings, but only Saturn has such good visibility and effectiveness. There are three main rings of Saturn, named rather simply: A, B, C. The fourth ring is much thinner and less noticeable. As it turned out, the rings of Saturn are not one solid body, but billions of small celestial bodies (pieces of ice), ranging in size from a speck of dust to several meters. They move at approximately the same speed (about 10 km/s) around the equatorial part of the planet, sometimes colliding with each other.

Photos from the AMS showed that all visible rings consist of thousands of small rings alternating with empty, unfilled space. For clarity, you can imagine an ordinary record from Soviet times.
The unique shape of the rings has always haunted both scientists and ordinary observers. They all tried to find out their structure and understand how and why they were formed. At different times, different hypotheses and assumptions were put forward, for example, that they were formed along with the planet. Currently, scientists are inclined to believe that the rings are of meteorite origin. This theory has also received observational confirmation, since the rings of Saturn are periodically renewed and are not anything stable.

Saturn's moons

Now Saturn has about 63 discovered satellites. The vast majority of satellites are turned to the planet with the same side and rotate synchronously.

Christiaan Huygens had the honor of discovering the second largest satellite, after Ganimer, in the entire solar system. It is larger in size than Mercury, and its diameter is 5155 km. The atmosphere of Titan is red-orange: 87% is nitrogen, 11% is argon, 2% is methane. Naturally, methane rains occur there, and on the surface there should be seas containing methane. However, the Voyager 1 apparatus, which examined Titan, was unable to discern its surface through such a dense atmosphere.
The moon Enceladus is the brightest solar body in the entire solar system. It reflects more than 99% of sunlight due to its almost white surface made of water ice. Its albedo (characteristic of a reflective surface) is more than 1.
Also among the more famous and most studied satellites, it is worth noting “Mimas”, “Tethea” and “Dione”.

Characteristics of Saturn

Mass: 5.69*1026 kg (95 times more than Earth)
Diameter at equator: 120,536 km (9.5 times larger than Earth)
Diameter at the pole: 108728 km
Axle tilt: 26.7°
Density: 0.69 g/cm³
Upper layer temperature: about –189 °C
Period of revolution around its own axis (length of a day): 10 hours 15 minutes
Distance from the Sun (average): 9.5 a. e. or 1430 million km
Orbital period around the Sun (year): 29.5 years
Orbital speed: 9.7 km/s
Orbital eccentricity: e = 0.055
Orbital inclination to the ecliptic: i = 2.5°
Gravity acceleration: 10.5 m/s²
Satellites: there are 63 pieces.

One of the most beautiful astronomical objects to observe is undoubtedly the ringed planet Saturn. It’s hard to disagree with this statement if you managed to look at the ringed giant at least once through a telescope lens. However, this object of the solar system is interesting not only from an aesthetic point of view.

Why does the sixth planet from the Sun have a system of rings, and why did it get such a bright attribute? Astrophysicists and astronomers are still trying to answer these and many questions.

Brief characteristics of the planet Saturn

Like other gas giants of our near space, Saturn is of interest to the scientific community. The distance from Earth to it varies in the range of 1.20-1.66 billion kilometers. In order to overcome this huge and long path, spacecraft launched from our planet will need a little more than two years. The newest automatic probe, New Horizons, took two years and four months to reach the sixth planet. It should be taken into account that the movement of the planet around the Sun is similar to the orbital movement of the Earth. In other words, Saturn's orbit is shaped like a perfect ellipse. It has the third highest orbital eccentricity, after Mercury and Mars. The distance from the Sun at perihelion is 1,353,572,956 km, while at aphelion the gas giant moves away slightly, being at a distance of 1,513,325,783 km.

Even at such a significant distance from the central star, the sixth planet behaves quite quickly, rotating around its own axis at a tremendous speed of 9.69 km/s. Saturn's rotation period is 10 hours and 39 minutes. According to this indicator, it is second only to Jupiter. Such a high rotation rate causes the planet to appear flattened from the poles. Visually, Saturn resembles a top spinning at stunning speeds, rushing through space at a speed of 9.89 km/s, completing a full revolution around the Sun in almost 30 Earth years. Since Saturn was discovered by Galileo in 1610, the celestial body has orbited the main star of the solar system only 13 times.

The planet appears in the night sky as a fairly bright point, the apparent magnitude of which varies in the range from +1.47 to −0.24. Saturn's rings, which have a high albedo, are especially visible.

The location of Saturn in space is also curious. The axis of rotation of this planet has almost the same inclination to the ecliptic axis as that of the Earth. In this regard, the gas giant has seasons.

Saturn is not the largest planet in the solar system, but only the second largest celestial object in our immediate space after Jupiter. The average radius of the planet is 58,232 km, versus 69,911 km. at Jupiter. In this case, the polar diameter of the planet is less than the equatorial value. The planet's mass is 5.6846·10²⁶ kg, which is 96 times the mass of the Earth.

The closest planets to Saturn are its brothers in the planetary group - Jupiter and Uranus. The first is classified as a gas giant, while Uranus is classified as an ice giant. The two gas giants Jupiter and Saturn are characterized by enormous mass combined with low density. This is due to the fact that both planets are giant spherical clumps of liquefied gas. The density of Saturn is 0.687 g/cm³, inferior in this indicator to all the planets of the Solar System.

For comparison, the density of the terrestrial planets Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury is 3.94 g/cm³, 5.515 g/cm³, 5.25 g/cm³ and 5.42 g/cm³, respectively.

Description and composition of Saturn's atmosphere

The surface of a planet is a relative concept; the sixth planet does not have a solid surface. It is likely that the surface is the bottom of a hydrogen-helium ocean, where, under the influence of monstrous pressure, the gas mixture turns into a semi-liquid and liquid state. At the moment, there are no technical means to explore the surface of the planet, so all assumptions about the structure of the gas giant look purely theoretical. The object of study is the atmosphere of Saturn, which envelops the planet in a thick blanket.

The air envelope of the planet mainly consists of hydrogen. Hydrogen and helium are the chemical elements that keep the atmosphere in constant motion. This is evidenced by large cloud formations consisting of ammonia. Due to the fact that the air-gas mixture contains tiny particles of sulfur, Saturn from the outside has an orange color. The zone of continuous clouds begins at the lower boundary of the troposphere - at an altitude of 100 km. from the imaginary surface of the planet. Temperatures in this area range from 200-250⁰ Celsius below zero.

More accurate data on the composition of the atmosphere is as follows:

hydrogen 96%;
helium 3%;
methane is only 0.4%;
ammonia accounts for 0.01%;
molecular hydrogen 0.01%;
0.0007% is ethane.

In terms of its density and massiveness, the clouds on Saturn look more powerful than on Jupiter. In the lower part of the atmosphere, the main components of Saturnian clouds are ammonium hydrosulfite or water, in various variations. The presence of water vapor in the lower parts of Saturn's atmosphere, at altitudes less than 100 km, is also allowed by the temperature, which in this area is within absolute zero. Atmospheric pressure in the lower parts of the atmosphere is 140 kPa. As you approach the surface of a celestial body, the temperature and pressure begin to increase. Gaseous compounds are transformed, forming new forms. Due to high pressure, hydrogen takes on a semi-liquid state. The estimated average temperature on the surface of the hydrogen-helium ocean is 143K.

This state of the air-gas shell is the reason that Saturn is the only planet in the Solar System that gives off more heat to the surrounding outer space than it receives from our Sun.

Saturn, located at a distance of one and a half billion kilometers from the Sun, receives 100 times less solar heat than the Earth.

The Saturn stove is explained by the operation of the Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism. As the temperature drops, the pressure in the layers of the planet's atmosphere also decreases. The celestial body involuntarily begins to contract, converting the potential energy of compression into heat. Another hypothesis to explain Saturn's intense heat generation is a chemical reaction. As a result of convection in the layers of the atmosphere, condensation of helium molecules occurs in layers of hydrogen, accompanied by the release of heat.

Dense cloud masses and temperature differences in the layers of the atmosphere contribute to the fact that Saturn is one of the windiest regions of the solar system. Storms and hurricanes here are an order of magnitude stronger and more powerful than on Jupiter. The air flow speed in some cases reaches colossal values of 1800 km/h. Moreover, Saturnian storms form rapidly. The birth of a hurricane on the surface of the planet can be traced visually by observing Saturn through a telescope for several hours. However, following the rapid emergence, a long period of violence of the cosmic elements begins.

The structure of the planet and description of the core

With increasing temperature and pressure, hydrogen gradually transforms into a liquid state. At approximately a depth of 20-30 thousand km, the pressure is 300 GPa. Under such conditions, hydrogen begins to metallize. As we go deeper into the planet's interior, the proportion of oxide compounds with hydrogen begins to increase. Metallic hydrogen makes up the outer shell of the core. This state of hydrogen contributes to the emergence of high-intensity electric currents, forming a strong magnetic field.

Unlike the outer layers of Saturn, the inner part of the core is a massive formation with a diameter of 25 thousand kilometers, consisting of compounds of silicon and metals. Presumably in this area temperatures reach 11 thousand degrees Celsius. The mass of the core varies in the range of 9-22 times the mass of our planet.

Saturn's satellite system and rings

Saturn has 62 satellites, most of which have a solid surface and even have their own atmosphere. By their size, some of them can claim to be a planet. Just look at the size of Titan, which is one of the largest satellites of the solar system and larger than the planet Mercury. This celestial body orbiting Saturn has a diameter of 5150 km. The satellite has its own atmosphere, which in its composition is very similar to the air envelope of our planet at the early stage of formation.

Scientists believe that Saturn has the most developed system of satellites in the entire solar system. According to information received from the Cassini automatic interplanetary station, Saturn is perhaps the only place in the solar system where liquid water can exist on its satellites. To date, only some of the satellites of the ringed giant have been studied, but even the information that is available gives every reason to consider this most distant part of near space suitable for the existence of certain forms of life. In this regard, the fifth satellite, Enceladus, is of great interest to astrophysicists.

The main decoration of the planet, of course, are its rings. It is customary to distinguish four main rings in the system, correspondingly named A, B, C and D. The width of the largest ring B is 25,500 km. The rings are separated by gaps, among which the largest is the Cassini division, separating rings A and B. In terms of their composition, the Saturnian rings are accumulations of small and large particles of water ice. Due to their icy structure, Saturn's halos have a high albedo and are therefore clearly visible through a telescope.

Finally

Advances in science and technology over the past 30 years have allowed scientists to more intensively conduct research on a distant planet using technical means. Following the first information obtained as a result of the flight of the American spacecraft Pioneer 11, which first flew near the gas giant in 1979, Saturn was taken seriously.

The Pioneer mission was continued in the early 1980s by two Voyagers, the first and the second. The emphasis in the research was on the satellites of Saturn. In 1997, earthlings for the first time received a sufficient amount of information about Saturn and the system of this planet thanks to the Cassini-Huygens mission. The flight program included the planned landing of the Huygens probe on the surface of Titan, which was successfully carried out on January 14, 2005.

Saturn– a planet of the Solar System with rings: size, mass, orbit, composition, surface, satellites, atmosphere, temperature, research by devices with photos.

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and perhaps the most beautiful object in the solar system.

This is the most distant planet from the star that can be found from Earth without using a telescope or binoculars. So they have known about its existence for a long time. Here is one of the four gas giants, located 6th in order from the Sun. You will be curious to know what kind of planet Saturn is, but first check out these interesting facts about the planet Saturn.

Interesting facts about the planet Saturn

Can be found without tools

Saturn is the 5th brightest planet in the solar system, so it can be seen with binoculars or a telescope.

Ancient people saw it

The Babylonians and residents of the Far East also watched him. Named after the Roman titan (analogous to the Greek Kronos).

Flattest planet

The polar diameter covers 90% of the equatorial diameter, which is based on the low density and rapid rotation. The planet rotates once every 10 hours and 34 minutes.

A year lasts 29.4 years

Because of its slowness, the ancient Assyrians nicknamed the planet “Lubadshagush” - “the oldest of the oldest.”

There are streaks in the upper atmosphere

The composition of the upper layers of the atmosphere is represented by ammonia ice. Beneath them are clouds of water, and then come cold mixtures of hydrogen and sulfur.

Oval storms present

The area above the north pole took on a hexagonal shape (hexagon). Researchers think it could be a wave pattern in the cloud tops. There is also a vortex over the south pole that resembles a hurricane.

The planet is composed mainly of hydrogen

The planet is divided into layers that penetrate Saturn more densely. At great depths, hydrogen becomes metallic. The basis is a hot interior.

Endowed with the most beautiful ring system

Saturn's rings are made of ice fragments and a small admixture of carbonaceous dust. They stretch for 120,700 km, but are incredibly thin - 20 m.

The lunar family includes 62 satellites

Saturn's moons are icy worlds. The largest are Titan and Rhea. Enceladus may have a subsurface ocean.

Titan has a complex nitrogen atmosphere

Consists of ice and stone. The frozen surface layer is endowed with lakes of liquid methane and landscapes covered with frozen nitrogen. May have life.

Sent 4 missions

These are Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and 2 and Cassini-Huygens.

Size, mass and orbit of the planet Saturn

The average radius of Saturn is 58,232 km (equatorial - 60,268 km, polar - 54,364 km), which is 9.13 times larger than Earth's. With a mass of 5.6846 × 10 26 kg and a surface area of 4.27 × 10 10 km 2, its volume reaches 8.2713 × 10 14 km 3.

Polar compression	0.097 96 ± 0.000 18
Equatorial	60,268 ± 4 km
Polar radius	54 36 ± 10 km
Surface area	4.27 10 10 km²
Volume	8.27 10 14 km³
Weight	5.68 10 26 kg 95 earthly
Average density	0.687 g/cm³
Acceleration free falls at the equator	10.44 m/s²
Second escape velocity	35.5 km/s
Equatorial speed rotation	9.87 km/s
Rotation period	10h 34min 13s ± 2s
Axis tilt	26.73°
North pole declination	83.537°
Albedo	0.342 (Bond)
Apparent magnitude	from +1.47 to −0.24
Absolute stellar magnitude	0,3
Angular diameter	9%

The distance from the Sun to the planet Saturn is 1.4 billion km. In this case, the maximum distance reaches 1,513,783 km, and the minimum – 1,353,600 km.

The average orbital speed reaches 9.69 km/s, and Saturn spends 10,759 days to pass around the star. It turns out that one year on Saturn lasts 29.5 Earth years. But here the situation with Jupiter is repeated, where the rotation of the regions occurs at different speeds. Saturn's shape resembles an oblate spheroid.

Composition and surface of the planet Saturn

You already know what planet Saturn is. It is a gas giant represented by hydrogen and gas. The average density of 0.687 g/cm 3 is surprising. That is, if you place Saturn in a huge body of water, the planet will remain afloat. It has no surface, but has a dense core. The fact is that heating, density and pressure increase as you approach the core. The structure is explained in detail in the bottom photo of Saturn.

Scientists believe that Saturn is similar in structure to Jupiter: a rocky core around which hydrogen and helium are concentrated with a small admixture of volatile substances. The composition of the core may resemble that of the Earth, but with increased density due to the presence of metallic hydrogen.

Inside the planet, the temperature rises to 11,700°C, and the amount of energy emitted is 2.5 times greater than what it receives from the Sun. In a sense, this is due to the slow gravitational Kelvin-Helmholtz contraction. Or is it all about helium droplets rising from the depths into the hydrogen layer. This releases heat and removes helium from the outer layers.

Calculations from 2004 say that the core should be 9-22 times larger than the earth's mass, and its diameter should be 25,000 km. It is surrounded by a dense layer of liquid metallic hydrogen, followed by helium-rich molecular hydrogen. The outermost layer extends for 1000 km and is represented by gas.

Satellites of the planet Saturn

Saturn boasts 62 satellites, of which only 53 have official names. Among them, 34 have a diameter of less than 10 km, and 14 have a diameter between 10 and 50 km. But some inner satellites extend 250-5000 km.

Most of the satellites were named after the titans from the myths of Ancient Greece. The innermost moons are endowed with small orbital inclinations. But irregular satellites in the most isolated areas are located millions of km away and can make their rounds in several years.

The internal ones include Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys and Dione. They are represented by water ice and may have a rocky core, an icy mantle and crust. The smallest is Mimas with a diameter of 396 km and a mass of 0.4 x 10 20 kg. It is shaped like an egg and is 185.539 km away from the planet, which is why the orbital passage takes 0.9 days.

Enceladus, with measurements of 504 km and 1.1 x 10 20 kg, has a spherical speed. It takes 1.4 days to go around the planet. It is one of the smallest spherical moons, but is endogenously and geologically active. This caused the appearance of parallel faults in the southern polar latitudes.

Large geysers were spotted in the south polar region. These jets serve as a source of replenishment for the E ring. They are important because they may hint at the presence of life on Enceladus, since the water comes from an underground ocean. The albedo is 140%, making it one of the brightest objects in the system. Below you can admire the photo of Saturn's moons.

With a diameter of 1066 km, Tethys is the second largest among Saturn's moons. Most of the surface is represented by craters and hills, as well as a small amount of plains. The Odysseus crater, which stretches for 400 km, stands out. There is also a canyon system that deepens 3-5 km, stretches 2000 km, and is 100 km wide.

The largest inner moon is Dione - 1112 km and 11 x 10 20 kg. Its surface is not only ancient, but also heavily damaged from impacts. Some craters reach a diameter of 250 km. There is also evidence of past geological activity.

The outer satellites are located outside the E-ring and are represented by water ice and rock. This is Rhea with a diameter of 1527 km and a mass of 23 x 10 20 kg. It is distant from Saturn by 527.108 km, and takes 4.5 days for its orbital passage. The surface is also dotted with craters and several large faults are visible on the rear hemisphere. There are two large impact basins with a diameter of 400-500 km.

Titan extends over 5150 km, and its mass is 1,350 x 10 20 kg (96% of the orbital mass), which is why it is considered the largest satellite of Saturn. It is the only large moon with its own atmospheric layer. It is cold, dense and holds nitrogen and methane. There are small amounts of hydrocarbons and methane ice crystals.

The surface is difficult to see due to the dense atmospheric haze. Only a few crater formations, cryo-volcanoes and longitudinal dunes are visible. This is the only body in the system with methane-ethane lakes. Titan is 1,221,870 km away and is believed to have an underground ocean. It takes 16 days to go around the planet.

Hyperion lives near Titan. With a diameter of 270 km, it is inferior in size and mass to Mimas. It is an ovoid brown object that, due to its crater surface (2-10 km in diameter), resembles a sponge. No predictable rotation.

Iapetus extends over 1470 km and has a mass of 1.8 x 10 20 kg. It is the most distant moon, located 3,560,820 km away, which is why it takes 79 days to pass. It has an interesting composition because one side is dark and the other is lighter. Because of this, they are called yin and yang.

The Inuit include 5 moons named after Inuit mythology: Ijirak, Kiviok, Paliak, Siarnak and Tarkek. Their prograde orbits range from 11.1-17.9 million km, and their diameter ranges from 7-40 km. Orbital inclinations – 45-50°.

Gallic family - outer satellites: Albiorix, Befin, Erripo and Tarvos. Their orbits are 16-19 million km, inclination is from 35° to -40°, diameter is 6-32 km, and eccentricity is 0.53.

There is a Scandinavian group - 29 retrograde moons. Their diameter is 6-18 km, distance is 12-24 million km, inclination is 136-175°, and eccentricity is 0.13-0.77. They are sometimes called the Thebes family, after their largest moon, which extends 240 km. Next comes Ymir - 18 km.

Between the inner and outer moons lives a group of Alkoinids: Methon, Antha and Pallene. These are the smallest satellites of Saturn. Some large moons have their own small ones. So Tethys has Telesto and Calypso, and Dion has Helen and Polydeuces.

Atmosphere and temperature of the planet Saturn

The outer layer of Saturn's atmosphere consists of 96.3% molecular hydrogen and 3.25% helium. There are also heavier elements, but there is little information about their proportions. Propane, ammonia, methane, acetylene, ethane and phosphine were found in small quantities. The upper cloud cover is represented by ammonia crystals, and the lower cloud cover is represented by ammonium hydrosulfide or water. UV rays lead to metalin photolysis, which causes chemical reactions of the hydrocarbon.

The atmosphere appears striped, but the lines weaken and widen toward the equator. There is a division into upper and lower layers, differing in composition based on pressure and depth. The upper ones are represented by ammonia ice, where the pressure is 0.5-2 bar and the temperature is 100-160 K.

At a level with a pressure of 2.5 bar, a line of ice clouds begins, which stretches to 9.5 bar, and the heating is 185-270 K. Bands of ammonium hydrosulfide mix here at a pressure of 3-6 bar and a temperature of 290-235 K. The lower layer is represented by ammonia in an aqueous solution with indicators of 10-20 bar and 270-330 K.

Sometimes long-period ovals form in the atmosphere. The most famous is the Great White Spot. It is created every Saturnian year around the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere.

The spots can extend several thousand kilometers in width and were observed in 1876, 1903, 1933, 1960 and 1990. Since 2010, the “northern electrostatic disturbance” observed by Cassini has been monitored. If these clouds adhere to periodicity, then the next time we will note their appearance is in 2020.

In terms of wind speed, the planet ranks second after Neptune. Voyager recorded a rate of 500 m/s. A hexagonal wave is visible at the north pole, and a massive jet stream is visible at the south pole.

The hexagon was first seen in Voyager photographs. Its sides extend over 13,800 km (more than the diameter of the Earth), and the structure rotates in 10 hours, 39 minutes and 24 seconds. The vortex at the south pole was observed using the Hubble telescope. There is a wind speed of 550 km/h here, and the storm is similar in size to our planet.

Rings of the planet Saturn

It is believed that these are old rings and could have formed along with the planet. There are two theories. One says that the rings were previously a satellite that was destroyed due to its close approach to the planet. Or the rings were never part of the satellite, but are a remnant of the nebular material from which Saturn itself emerged.

They are divided into 7 rings, between which there is a gap. A and B are the densest and span 14,600 and 25,300 km in diameter. They extend 92,000-117,580 km (B) and 122,170-136,775 km (A) from the center. The Cassini Division covers 4,700 km.

C is separated from B by 64 km. It is 17,500 km wide and 74,658-92,000 km away from the planet. Together with A and B, it contains the main rings with larger particles. Next come the dust rings, because they contain small particles.

D occupies 7500 km and extends inward for 66900-75510 km. At the other end are G (9000 km and a distance of 166000-175000 km) and E (300000 km and a distance of 166000-480000 km). F is located on the outer edge of A and is more difficult to classify. It's mostly dust. It covers 30-500 km in width and extends 140-180 km from the center.

History of the study of the planet Saturn

Saturn can be found without the use of telescopes, which is why ancient people saw it. Mentions are found in legends and mythology. The earliest records belong to Babylon, where the planet was registered in relation to the zodiac sign.

The ancient Greeks called this giant Kronos, who was the god of agriculture and acted as the youngest of the titans. Ptolemy was able to calculate the orbital passage of Saturn when the planet was in opposition. In Rome they used the Greek tradition and gave it its current name.

In ancient Hebrew the planet was called Shabbatai, and in the Ottoman Empire it was called Zuhal. Hindus have Shani, who judges everyone, assessing good and bad deeds. The Chinese and Japanese called it the earth's star, considering it one of the elements.

But the planet was not observed until 1610, when Galileo looked at it through his telescope and rings were discovered. But the scientist thought that these were two satellites. Only Christiaan Huygens corrected the mistake. He also found Titan, and Giovanni Cassini found Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys and Dione.

The next important step was taken by William Herschel in 1789, when he found Mimas and Enceladus. And in 1848 Hyperion appears.

Drawing of Saturn by Robert Hooke (1666)

Phoebus was found in 1899 by William Pickering, who guessed that the satellite had an irregular orbit and rotated synchronously with the planet. In the 20th century, it became clear that Titan has a dense atmosphere, something that had not been seen before. The planet Saturn is an interesting object to study. On our website you can study his photos, watch a video about the planet and learn many more interesting facts. Below is a map of Saturn.