SATURN AND ITS OVERALL EPICNESS
This is Jack, and today I will tell you about my favorite planet in the solar system . . . Saturn!
Words don't do justice when it comes to describing the planet Saturn, so let me just start off with this awesome sight:
There are many photos of Saturn, but this one is amazing, don't you think? It was taken from the Voyager space craft.
This is a picture of a Saturn that is not so amazing:
"Saturn" is also the name of the make of an American car manufacturer. It doesn't really do the planet Saturn any justice, does it?
Sorry to any Saturn owners.
Anyway, the planet Saturn was named after the Roman god of agriculture. Wouldn't it be nice to have a planet named after you?
Pictures of these Roman gods tend to all look alike, but here's one that is supposed to be Saturn:
The Greek version of Saturn is Cronos, the father of Zeus. He got chopped up and sent to Tartarus. Here's an artist's rendition:
So . . . Saturn is the farthest planet from Earth that can be seen by the human eye. It's the sixth planet from the sun and the second largest in the solar system, (Jupiter is the largest, remember?) Here's a little reminder:
See the one with the rings? That's Saturn. More about the rings later.
Saturn is a huge planet. It's volume is 755 times greater than Earth! But Saturn is a gas giant planet, made mostly of hydrogen and helium. Since it's made up mostly of gasses, it's not very dense. Since this is about to get complicated, I'm going to turn this over to Professor MC Squared. Take it Professor:
"Density is a measure of mass per volume. Saturn is not very dense because it's particles are mostly made up of gasses. An easy way to think about it is that Saturn is very light for it's size. So, even though Saturn is very big, it's mostly made up of gasses so it's not very heavy.
High density planets are very heavy for their size, and low-density planets are very light for their size."
Thank you Professor MC Squared.
Saturn's density is even lower than water. That means the planet would float if it were placed in water!
Saturn's atmosphere is like the rest of the planet. It's made up of about 75% hydrogen and about 25% helium. It has very small amounts of other things, like water and methane.
One of the reasons Saturn is my favorite planet is because it's surrounded by rings. You always know Saturn when you see it because of it's horizontal rings. The rings are mostly made up of water ice, and have ringlets, "braided" rings, and "spokes," which are dark features in the rings. The rings also contain rocks, dust, and other chemicals.
Here is a natural-color view of Saturn's rings:
This is a highly enhanced color view of the rings:
Saturn's ring system extends hundreds of thousands of kilometers from the planet, yet they're only about 30 feet in vertical height.
Saturn is surrounded by 53 moons. One of the moons is named Titan. Here's a picture:
The big moon is Titan, and the little one in the back is another one of Saturn's moons called Tethys.
Next, I'm supposed to list some interesting facts about Titan. I'm giving this one to the Professor. Take it away, Professor MC Squared:
1. Titan is bigger than the planet Mercury.
2. It's the second-largest moon in the solar system.
3. Its atmosphere might be similar to what Earth's was like long ago.
4. The surface temperature is -289 degrees F.
5. It takes 16 days for a full orbit.
6. Titan is the only moon to have clouds and a planet-like atmosphere.
7. It was discovered on March 25, 1655 by a Dutch astronomer.
8. The name "Titan" comes from a generic term from Roman mythology for the children of Ouranos and Gaia. Titans are the ancestors of humans."
Thank you, Professor MC Squared.
Thanks for reading my blog.
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