Solar System Exploration: Solar System 101: Homework Helper

HOMEWORK HELPER

Jewel of Our Solar System
Adorned with thousands of beautiful ringlets, Saturn is unique among the planets. All four gas giant planets have rings -- made of chunks of ice and rock -- but none are as spectacular or as complicated as Saturn's. Like the other gas giants, Saturn is mostly a massive ball of hydrogen and helium.

Extreme Facts

Spectacular Spacecraft The Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn is the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built. With a total mass of about 5,650 kilograms (six tons), the two-story tall spacecraft is roughly equal in mass to an empty 30-passenger school bus.

Death Star Moon Saturn's moon Mimas sports a massive impact crater more than 130 km (81 miles) across and 5 km (3 miles) deep that gives it a distinctly Death Star look. The battered moon is only 400 km (249 miles) across. A crater of the same proportion on Earth would cover the entire United States.

Cosmic Bath Toy It's hard to imagine, but Saturn is the only planet in our solar system that is less dense than water. The giant gas planet could float in a bathtub -- if such a colossal thing existed.

Lord of the Rings Even though Saturn's rings are more than 250 thousand km (155 thousand miles) wide -- most of the distance between Earth and its moon -- the main rings (A, B and C) are about 10 m (33 feet) thick, or less. The rings are an optical illusion on a cosmic scale. Far from solid, they're actually a blizzard of water-ice particles mixed with dust and rock fragments.

Slow Ride If you retraced the 3.2 billion km (1,988,000,000 miles) Cassini traveled to reach Saturn in a car at 100 kph (62 mph), the ride would last about 3,653 years. Fortunately, spacecraft are much faster. Cassini made the trip in less than seven years.

True Titan Saturn's haze-covered moon Titan is larger than the planets Mercury and Pluto. Among moons, only Jupiter's Ganymede is larger. Titan is the only moon in our solar system with an atmosphere thicker than the Earth's.

Far Out Saturn was once known as the most distant planet in the solar system; that is until the discovery of Uranus in 1781.

Strong Influence Though Saturn's magnetic field is not as huge as Jupiter's, it is still 578 times as powerful as the Earth's.

Now You See Them and Now You Don't Twice every 29.5 years the great, planet Saturn is ringless. Where do the rings go? Nowhere. This is in fact an optical illusion: We cannot see Saturn's rings when the rings are edge on as viewed from the Earth.

Moon King Saturn may not be king of the planets, but currently Saturn is king of the moon count -- of confirmed moons that is. Saturn beats out Jupiter's 50 moons with its 53.

Spectacular Spacecraft The Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn is the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built. With a total mass of about 5,650 kilograms (six tons), the two-story tall spacecraft is roughly equal in mass to an empty 30-passenger school bus.

Death Star Moon Saturn's moon Mimas sports a massive impact crater more than 130 km (81 miles) across and 5 km (3 miles) deep that gives it a distinctly Death Star look. The battered moon is only 400 km (249 miles) across. A crater of the same proportion on Earth would cover the entire United States.

Cosmic Bath Toy It's hard to imagine, but Saturn is the only planet in our solar system that is less dense than water. The giant gas planet could float in a bathtub -- if such a colossal thing existed.

Lord of the Rings Even though Saturn's rings are more than 250 thousand km (155 thousand miles) wide -- most of the distance between Earth and its moon -- the main rings (A, B and C) are about 10 m (33 feet) thick, or less. The rings are an optical illusion on a cosmic scale. Far from solid, they're actually a blizzard of water-ice particles mixed with dust and rock fragments.

Slow Ride If you retraced the 3.2 billion km (1,988,000,000 miles) Cassini traveled to reach Saturn in a car at 100 kph (62 mph), the ride would last about 3,653 years. Fortunately, spacecraft are much faster. Cassini made the trip in less than seven years.

True Titan Saturn's haze-covered moon Titan is larger than the planets Mercury and Pluto. Among moons, only Jupiter's Ganymede is larger. Titan is the only moon in our solar system with an atmosphere thicker than the Earth's.

Far Out Saturn was once known as the most distant planet in the solar system; that is until the discovery of Uranus in 1781.

Strong Influence Though Saturn's magnetic field is not as huge as Jupiter's, it is still 578 times as powerful as the Earth's.

Now You See Them and Now You Don't Twice every 29.5 years the great, planet Saturn is ringless. Where do the rings go? Nowhere. This is in fact an optical illusion: We cannot see Saturn's rings when the rings are edge on as viewed from the Earth.

Moon King Saturn may not be king of the planets, but currently Saturn is king of the moon count -- of confirmed moons that is. Saturn beats out Jupiter's 50 moons with its 53.