Message about Saturn summary. Message about planet saturn

Saturn, if you count by distance from the Sun, is the sixth planet, and if by size, then the second. This is a gas giant with a mass 95 times greater. It has the lowest density of all the planets and even less than that of water. The planet Saturn is perhaps one of the most beautiful and mysterious. Her appearance is striking and alluring. Fairytale rings create a feeling of something unusual, thanks to them, it cannot be confused with another planet, it is one of a kind.

What does the name Saturn mean? It is known that it comes from the name of the God Kronos, who commanded the mighty Titans in Greek mythology. The planet received this name due to its gigantic size and unusual appearance.

Planet parameters

Atmosphere

Strong winds rage in Saturn's atmosphere. Their speed is so high that it is about 500 km/h, and sometimes reaches 1500 km/h. Agree, this is a rather unpleasant phenomenon, but from Earth (if you look through a telescope) they look very beautiful. There are real cyclones raging on the planet, the largest of which is the Great White Oval. It received this name for its appearance, and is a powerful anticyclone that systematically appears on the surface approximately once every thirty years. Its dimensions are simply gigantic, about 17 thousand kilometers.

The planet's atmosphere is made up mainly of hydrogen and helium, with just a little bit of nitrogen. Ammonia clouds are observed in the upper layers.

There are also formations such as spots. True, they are not as noticeable as, for example, those of Jupiter, but still, some are quite large and reach about 11 thousand km. That is, quite impressive. There are also light spots, they are much smaller, only about 3 thousand km, as well as brown ones, the size of which is 10 thousand km.

There are also stripes, which scientists suggest appeared due to temperature changes. There are quite a lot of them and it is in the center of the stripes that the most powerful winds blow.
The upper layers of the atmosphere are very cold. The temperature ranges from –180 °C to –150 °C. Although this is a terrible cold, if there were no core inside the planet that warms and gives heat, then the temperature of the atmosphere would be noticeably lower, because the Sun is far away.

Surface

Saturn has no solid surface, and what we see are only the tops of the clouds. Their top layer consists of frozen ammonia, and the bottom layer is made of ammonium. The closer to the planet, the denser and hotter the hydrogen atmosphere.

The internal structure is very similar to that of Jupiter. Scientists suggest that in the center of the planet there is a large silicate-metallic core. So, at a depth of about 30,000 km. the temperature is 10,000 °C, and the pressure is about 3 million atmospheres. In the core itself, the pressure is even higher, as is the temperature. It contains the heat source that warms the entire planet. Saturn gives off more heat than it receives from.

The core is surrounded by hydrogen, which is in a metallic state, and above it, closer to the surface, is a layer of liquid molecular hydrogen, which passes into its gas phase adjacent to the atmosphere. The planet's magnetic field has a unique feature, which is that it coincides with the planet's rotation axis. Saturn's magnetosphere has a symmetrical appearance, but the radiation poles are regular in shape and have voids.

The first person to see the rings was the great Galileo Galilei, and this was all the way back in 1610. Later, with the help of a more powerful telescope, the Dutch astronomer Huygens suggested that Saturn has two rings: one thin and one flat. In fact, there are many more of them, and they consist of numerous pieces of ice, stones, of various sizes, sweeping away everything in their path. The rings are simply huge. The largest of them exceeds the size of the planet by 200 times. Essentially, this is the debris that remains from destroyed comets, satellites and other space waste.

Interestingly, the rings also have a name. They are arranged in alphabetical order, that is, ring A, B, C and so on.

Saturn has only 61 moons. They have different shapes, but most of them are small in size. Mostly they are ice formations and only some have admixtures of rocks. The names of many satellites come from the names of the titans and their descendants, since the very name of the planet comes from Kronos, who commanded them.

The largest satellites of the planet are Titan, Phoebe, Mimas, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Hyperion and Iapetus. They, except for Phoebe, rotate synchronously and constantly face the same side relative to Saturn. Many researchers suggest that Titan is very similar in its structure and some other parameters to the young Earth (as it was 4.6 billion years ago).

Here the conditions are more favorable, and perhaps the simplest microorganisms are present. But for now, it is not possible to confirm this.

Journey to Saturn

If we were to go to this amazing planet now, we would see a fascinating picture. Imagine a giant Saturn, around which numerous remnants of planets, pieces of comets and ice revolve at great speed, because this is exactly what the belt is - a ring that looks so beautiful from Earth. In fact, everything is not so romantic. And clouds hover above the planet, densely covering the entire surface. In some places, wild winds rage, sweeping at enormous speeds, which are faster than the speed of sound on Earth.

From time to time there are lightnings here, which means that we could fall under their influence, all the more dangerous since there is nowhere to hide. In general, Saturn is a rather dangerous place for a person to be, no matter how reliably he is protected. You could be carried away by a hurricane or struck by lightning, especially remember that this is a gaseous planet, with all the ensuing consequences.

• Saturn is the most depleted planet in the world. The density is less than the density of water. And the rotation of the planet is so great that it is flattened from the poles.
• Saturn has a phenomenon called the "Giant Hexagon". No other planet in the solar system has this. What it is? This is a fairly stable formation, which is a regular hexagon that surrounds the north pole of the planet. No one can yet explain this atmospheric phenomenon. It is assumed that this is the head part of the vortex, the bulk of which is located deep in the hydrogen atmosphere. Its dimensions are huge and amount to 25 thousand kilometers.
• If the Sun were in the shape of a door, then the planet Earth, in comparison, would be the size of a coin, and Saturn would be the size of a basketball. These are their sizes in comparison.
• Saturn is a giant gaseous planet with no solid surface. That is, what we can see is not solid, but just clouds.
• The average radius of the planet is 58.232 km. But despite such large sizes, it rotates quite quickly.
• On Saturn, a day lasts 10.7 hours, this is the time it takes for the planet to complete one revolution around its axis. The length of a year is 29.5 Earth years.
• The solar wind, crashing into the atmosphere of Saturn, creates peculiar “sounds”. If you translate them into the range of sound waves audible to humans, you get a scary melody:

Those who flew to Saturn

The very first spacecraft to reach Saturn was Pioneer 11, and this event occurred in 1979. It did not land on the planet itself, but only flew relatively close, at a distance of 22,000 km. photographs were taken that opened the way for scientific astronomers to answer some questions for the cosmic giant. A little later, the Cassini spacecraft managed to send a probe to its satellite, Titan. He landed successfully and took more detailed photographs of both Saturn itself and Titan. And in 2009, an entire ocean of ice was discovered beneath the icy surface of Enceladus.

More recently, astronomers have discovered a new type of aurora in the planet’s atmosphere; it forms a ring around one of the poles.

The planet still conceals many secrets and mysteries that astronomers and scientists will have to solve in the future.

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.

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 kilometers 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 at 3,560,820 km, 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.

Imagine that you and I went on a space journey to Saturn, the planet of the solar system. But here’s the disappointment: there is nowhere for our ship to land. And there’s no way to walk around the planet.

The entire planet is made of gas. Therefore, you will not be able to take a single step, because no one has yet learned to walk on air.

Saturn can be seen from Earth with the naked eye. This giant planet is the sixth from the Sun and the second largest in our system. Moreover, Saturn is so light that if you imagine that it was placed in a huge bath of water, it will float on the surface.

Year lasts on the planet 30 earth years. This is the time it takes for a planet to fly around the Sun.

It's cold on Saturn, with temperatures dropping to -180 °C. A lot of lightning constantly flashes there, powerful storms rage that can be observed even from Earth.

A giant vortex of amazing shape rotates around the planet’s north pole. Surprisingly, it is a regular hexagon and glows brightly. The phenomenon was called " Hexagon" It is assumed that this is an aurora, but it is not yet clear why it creates such an unusual effect in Saturn's atmosphere.

One of the main prides of Saturn is its rings. Three can be seen through a telescope. But in reality there are many more. They consist of billions of tiny particles of ice, cosmic dust and other substances that rush at great speed, like traffic on a busy highway. The thickness of the rings is no more than a few hundred meters, but their width can reach 80 kilometers.

At Saturn more than sixty satellites. The largest and heaviest - Titanium. Astronomers have proven that this is the only known celestial body in our system with liquid on the surface. However, this is not water. Huge rivers and lakes of hot methane cover the satellite. But if you decide to swim, you will not get burned, but on the contrary, you will turn into an ice stone. These are the properties of this substance.

Among Saturn's satellites there are some very unusual ones. For example, Iapetus. It is surrounded by a strange crest, which is why the satellite looks like a peach pit. One half of Iapetus is very dark and smooth, as if a black scarf had been thrown over it.

On another satellite - Mimase- there is such a large crater that this celestial body resembles a bitten apple. A satellite Hyperion looks like a huge strawberry.

The most beautiful and mysterious satellite of Saturn is Enceladus. Fountains of water and ice gush out from huge cracks on its surface. And so high that some particles fly into space and form one of Saturn’s thin rings. Inside the satellite there is most likely a huge ocean. And its surface became icy. Therefore, Enceladus, like a mirror, reflects sunlight and shines brightly among its dark brothers.

Saturn's moons They also play the role of “shepherds,” as astronomers call them. For example, the very small satellite Atlas does not allow particles from one of Saturn's rings to leave its boundaries. Two more rings are “watched” by Prometheus and Pandora.

Saturn is one of the eight main planets of the solar system. Its main distinguishing feature is its large and incredibly beautiful rings.

General information:

1. The planet weighs 95 times more than Earth. Her weight is 568 · 10 24 (568 septillion = 568 followed by 24 zeros) kilograms.
2. This giant can contain the Earth 750 times, being the second largest planet in the solar system after.
3. The planet consists of gases, 94% of it is hydrogen, and the rest is mostly helium.
4. A day on the planet lasts 10 and a quarter hours.
5. One revolution around the Sun takes almost 30 Earth years.
6. The surface temperature reaches -190º Celsius. The planet belongs to a separate class of “ice giants” of the solar system, and is located almost 10 times farther from the Sun than the Earth (for reference: our globe is 150 million km away from this hot star).
7. The diameter of the rings is about 300,000 km. On a fast rocket you would fly from one end to the other for 2 days.
8. This huge ball, surrounded by rings of ice, rotates at a speed of 60,000 km/h.

History of the origin of the name of the planet

Its radiance in the sky was noticed back in the 7th century BC. e. inhabitants of Ancient Assyria (modern Iraq). Many centuries later, the Greeks named this planet Kronos, in honor of their god of the harvest, perhaps due to its special position in the sky during the summer harvest. The Roman god of agriculture was Saturn , that is why today the planet has such a name. By the way, one day of the week - Saturday - is also named after this Roman god (Saturday).

Rings

In 1610 Galileo Galilei was the first to see rings in his telescope Saturn. He saw some small objects, although he did not understand what they were. In his diary, the scientist drew what he saw. Later, 45 years later, the Dutch physicist H. Huygens answered this question. He also realized that there was not just one ring moving around the planet, but several giant ones.

Today astronomers It is known that there are 7 main rings. And each of them has its own characteristics. For example, the A ring is almost transparent, so light passes through it easily. The B ring is dense and rich in material. C is even more transparent than A, and the D ring is completely indistinguishable. The rings can only be seen from the Earth thanks to the Sun, since they made up of ice particles which reflect a large amount of sunlight.

The shimmering rings are incredibly large. They spread so wide that they would fit between our planet and the orbit of the Moon. However, their width is no thicker than one or two floors of a modern high-rise building. They are somewhat similar to solid disks, but they are made up of billions of pieces of various cosmic debris. If you were inside one of the rings, you would feel like you were caught in a hail storm.

Peculiarities

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. Its atmosphere consists of 5 layers. This huge ball of hydrogen and helium rotates around its axis, while changing its shape. Something similar happens with pizza when the cook tosses it. Rotating, it becomes flat and stretches out on the sides.

Saturn has a very low density. It is the only planet in the solar system that less dense than water. It is inflated, and the gases take up a lot of space compared to the total mass. If there were a huge ocean capable of containing a planet, then this large ball would not sink, but would float on the water.

This ice giant also has a very powerful weather system. It looks like a very quiet and calm planet, although it is not. Storms there can last for days, weeks and even months. Wind speeds can reach 1600 km/h. It is believed that there is lightning that is millions of times stronger than on Earth.

Faithful companions of the ice ball

The largest satellite of the planet - Titanium. It is larger than Mercury and twice as large as the Moon. It was discovered by Christian Huygens back in 1655. Compared to Titan, Enceladus- one of the small satellites. This is a tiny object, with a diameter of only 500 km (1/8 of the Moon). It was discovered in 1789 by William Herschel. Enceladus is a shiny ball of ice and rock. It is geologically active. Scientists observe constant eruptions on it. Astronomers are still discovering previously unknown moons of the Lord of the Rings, so their exact number is unknown.

Cassini orbiter

In 1997, Cassini, a 5.5-ton spacecraft, set off for Saturn. The device reached this amazing giant in 2004. And much about the planet is known thanks to the Cassini satellite. He goes around the rings, satellites and the planet itself. Every day, scientists conduct a thorough study of the images received from the spacecraft.

Conclusion

Our report helped us get a glimpse into. The planet with ears, as Galileo Galilei depicted it in his notes, turned out to be a real pearl of the solar system. It delights space lovers with its shimmering beauty and amazes scientists with its mathematical perfection.

If this message was useful to you, I would be glad to see you

Covered in ice, and with enormous sizes - more than a quarter of a million kilometers in diameter, they are no more than a kilometer thick.

In the second half of the last century, no more than two dozen satellites were known, but with the commissioning of new ground-based and space-based satellites, the list of Saturn’s “companions” began to grow rapidly. Only with the help of the Voyager and Cassini spacecraft, 12 satellites were discovered.

Of the 62 satellites of Saturn, only 53 have their own names, 23 of them are regular, that is, they revolve around Saturn in orbits lying in the same plane and in the same direction, the rest are irregular.

The parameters of their highly elongated orbits are not known exactly, nor is it known whether they rotate or not. Moreover, almost all of the planet’s satellites have approximately the same composition - rocks and ice.

Scientific research on Saturn

Observing Saturn through a telescope in 1609-1610, he noticed that the planet did not look like a single celestial body, but like three bodies touching each other. The scientist suggested that Saturn probably has two large satellites - they were called “companions”.

But two years later, Galileo repeated his ideas and was surprised to discover that the planet’s satellites... had disappeared without a trace.

Only in 1659, Christiaan Huygens, using a more powerful and advanced telescope, discovered that the “companions” were nothing more than a thin flat ring encircling Saturn at some distance from the surface of the planet. At the same time, the largest satellite of Saturn was discovered - .

Huygens was the first to suggest that Saturn's ring is not a solid solid body, but consists of many small and larger fragments, but fellow academics attacked the scientist, arguing that nothing like this simply could not exist in nature.

Beginning in 1675, the director of the Paris Observatory, Giovanni Cassini (1625-1712), studied Saturn. He was able to establish that the ring of Saturn is not continuous, but consists of two rings of different diameters, separated by a clearly visible gap - it was called the “Cassini gap”.

Later, as the resolution of telescopes increased, astronomers divided Saturn's rings into an outer A ring, a B ring separated from it by the Cassini slit, and a translucent inner C ring.

In 1979, the Pioneer 11 spacecraft flew near Saturn for the first time, and in 1980 and 1981. it was followed by Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. For the first time in history, these devices took detailed photographs of the structure of the rings and determined their composition.

A magnificent color extravaganza of hundreds and thousands of thin rings, in a bizarre sequence “collected” around the giant planet, opened before the astonished astronomers.

Saturn: the kingdom of hot ice

For astronomers of the past, Saturn was the last frontier, the distant one, beyond which there was a crystal sphere with fixed ones attached to it.

And indeed: all the planets located beyond the orbit of Saturn cannot be seen with the naked eye.

Named after the ancient deity of fertility and agriculture, the father of Jupiter, who was dethroned by his ungrateful son, Saturn is nine and a half times farther from Earth than Earth.

The same gas giant as Jupiter, it does not look particularly bright in the sky, and it moves much more slowly - the year of Saturn lasts 29.5 Earth years.

When observed through a telescope, this planet resembles Jupiter - on its disk one can discern the same alternating dark and light stripes parallel to the equator.

Saturn's color is pale yellow, with a cool bluish tint.

Like Jupiter, Saturn does not have a solid surface, but the most noticeable detail that gives it a unique appearance - giant brightly glowing rings - is clearly visible from Earth.

Ice carousel

Modern astronomers know that all four gas giants—Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus—have rings, but Saturn's is the most prominent, massive, and strikingly bright.

The rings are located at an angle of approximately 28° to the plane of Saturn’s orbit, so from Earth they look different: depending on the relative position of the planets, they can be seen either “edge-on” - and then they practically disappear, or in all their glory.

Christiaan Huygens turned out to be right - the rings of Saturn really consist of billions of tiny particles caught in planetary orbit.

But what is striking is that with a diameter of about 250 thousand km, the thickness of the rings does not reach even twenty meters, and if all their matter were collected together, then a cosmic body with a diameter of no more than 100 km would emerge from it.

However, astronomers of the past had no idea about the number of Saturn’s rings.

Indeed, there is ring A, the Cassini gap about 4 thousand km wide, the brightest ring B and the translucent ring C, closest to the planet. Moreover, each of them consists of thousands of narrower rings, also alternating with slits and reflecting light differently.

Even in the Cassini slit there are several very thin rings. Most of the particles that make up the rings are several centimeters in size, but occasionally they contain bodies several meters and even up to 1-2 km.

Experts believe that the rings consist almost entirely of ice with impurities.

The rings rotate around Saturn, subject to the planet's gravity. From time to time, their composition is updated due to “careless” satellites that approach Saturn so close that the planet’s gravity simply “tears them apart.”

The rings are affected not only by gravity, but also by the magnetic field of the “host” - it orients particles in a variety of rings in a special way, and then dark transverse stripes, the so-called “spocks,” appear on them.

How did Saturn get rings?

The origin of Saturn's rings is still hotly debated.

They were considered the remnants of a large number of small satellites destroyed by the gravity of Saturn, but the age of the rings - and they are more than 4.5 billion years old - suggests that they are the remnants of a protoplanetary planet from which Saturn itself and its many satellites arose.

Near the planet there is a region in which clumps of matter that have reached a certain size begin to collide at high speeds and fragment.

As a result, instead of a new satellite, a whole cloud of small debris appears, which gradually “escape” to other orbits and participate in the formation of rings.

The extraordinary thinness of the “ice” is explained by the fact that in the equatorial plane of the planet, the mutual attraction of particles is balanced by centrifugal forces, and in the direction perpendicular to the equatorial plane, these forces do not act, so the particles are collected in the thinnest ring.

What planet could float on water?

Saturn, the second largest planet in the solar system, has the lowest density.

Saturn, which is mainly composed of gases and liquids, has an average density of 0.69 g/cm3, while the density is 1.0 g/cm3.

Therefore, if somehow a piece of Saturn could be brought to Earth, it could float in a pool.

If there was an ocean in which Saturn could be immersed, then we could be convinced that the giant planet... floats! It’s clear why: the substance of Saturn as a whole is one third lighter than ordinary water.

Hydrogen spinning top

The giant planet, only slightly smaller in size than Jupiter, rotates at tremendous speed - Saturn completes a full revolution in 10 hours 34 minutes. The diameter of Saturn at the equator is more than 120 thousand km, and the axis of the planet, noticeably flattened y, is inclined at an angle of 27° to the plane of its orbit.

Hydrogen with an admixture of helium, water, methane, ammonia are the main substances that make up Saturn, and there is more hydrogen there than on Jupiter.

Its average density is much less than that of water, and if there were an ocean of suitable size, Saturn would float calmly on its surface.

The outer layers of the planet's atmosphere appear calm and serene to the observer - there are no vortex formations like the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. However, this is apparent calm.

According to data, the speed on Saturn in some places can reach 1,800 km/h, and such “super hurricanes” rage not only in the upper layers of the atmosphere, but also to a depth of 2 thousand km.

As you move away from the outer layers of the atmosphere, pressure and temperature increase, and hydrogen turns into a liquid state.

In the central region of Saturn there is a massive core consisting of iron, rocks and... water ice, covered with a thin layer of metallic hydrogen.

Ice existing at temperatures of several thousand degrees may seem absurd. However, the ice of Saturn's interior is not quite ordinary. Its molecular structure differs from ordinary ice in much the same way as the structure of diamond differs from the structure of graphite, and the properties are completely different.

The restless interior of the planet gives rise to a powerful magnetic field that can be detected even at a distance of a million kilometers from Saturn.

Powerful blazes occur in the atmosphere, and excited masses of hydrogen emit strong ultraviolet radiation.

"Giant Hexagon"

The most amazing phenomenon in Saturn's atmosphere is the "Giant Hexagon".

Astronomers observing the planet from Earth were unaware of its existence - the “Giant Hexagon” is located directly at the north pole of Saturn. It was partially captured in one of the images transmitted by Voyager, and then, 25 years later, it was completely captured by the Cassini spacecraft.

Thanks to a favorable viewing angle, scientists were able to examine the deep structure of this amazing phenomenon.

The “Giant Hexagon” is a regular hexagon with a transverse size of 25 thousand km - four Earths can fit on it.

This is a vortex of a completely unusual shape, a wall of ammonia clouds rapidly rushing along the sides of a hexagon, going deep into the atmosphere at a distance of up to 100 km.

The “Hexagon” rotates along with the deep parts of the Saturnian atmosphere and “out of step” with the movement of its outer regions. Experts believe that it is a giant “standing” one surrounding the planet’s pole.

The automatic space probe Cassini, which is currently an artificial satellite of Saturn, transmitted new images of the Northern planet in the infrared range.

In these images, researchers discovered auroras that have never been observed in the solar system. They are colored blue, and the clouds below are colored red.

The auroras on Saturn can cover the entire pole, whereas on Earth and Jupiter the aurora rings only surround the magnetic poles.

Natural satellites of Saturn

Several large celestial bodies stand out in Saturn's retinue. They have unusual properties, but are still little explored.

The closest large satellite to the planet is Mimas, opened back in the 18th century. On its surface, a giant one is clearly visible, formed by a giant falling onto the surface of Mimas, which almost split the satellite into pieces.

The next most distant satellite is Enceladus- the lightest body in the solar system. Its surface reflects almost all the sunlight falling on it.

Researchers believe that it is covered with a thick layer of light frost. The sparkling icy Enceladus is very hot inside - not only meteorite craters are visible on its surface, but also traces of processes. Therefore, an amazing phenomenon is observed there - ice geysers.

There are even more such traces on the surface of the satellite Dions, and the next one after it Rhea has a very ancient surface, completely dotted with meteorite craters.

Quite a large satellite Tethys, discovered by J. Cassini, is located between the orbits of Eneladus and Dione.

Its uniqueness is not only in the huge Ithaca canyon, which, like a trace of a saber strike, cuts through three quarters of the circumference of Tethys, but also in the fact that Tethys shares its orbit with two other small satellites - Telesto and Calypso.

Moving in the same orbit, all three satellites are constantly located, as it were, at the vertices of an equilateral triangle.

Titanium, the largest of Saturn's moons and second only to Jupiter's Ganymede, is larger than a planet and orbits over a million kilometers from Saturn's surface.

The only one of Saturn’s retinue, it is surrounded by a rather dense atmosphere and shrouded in clouds consisting of nitrogen mixed with methane.

Titan is followed by smaller satellites, but they also have their own distinct features.

Yes, y Iapetus one hemisphere reflects light 10 times better than the other. The satellite moves with the “dark” hemisphere forward, and its color is due to the fact that it is primarily exposed to small particles of ice and rock fragments.

A strange ridge surrounds Iapetus at the equator, making it look like a peach pit.

The most distant of Saturn's satellites, having a diameter of more than 200 km, is Phoebe. The rest are significantly smaller.

Phoebe is notable for the fact that it has a reverse rotation - no, not around its own axis, but along an orbit. For a still unclear reason, it is moving in the opposite direction to the other large satellites.

Researchers suggest that Phoebe is a satellite turned into a satellite by Saturn's gravity.

Wind record holder. Even the constant storms on Jupiter seem like a breeze compared to the winds that blow through Saturn's atmosphere. Automatic interplanetary stations recorded on Saturn the highest wind speed in the solar system - 1800 km per hour. For comparison: the speed of the most ferocious terrestrial hurricane usually does not exceed 250 km per hour.

Great hexagon. Scientists still cannot find an explanation for the mysterious giant formation located at the north pole of Saturn.This spot is in the shape of a regular hexagon, the diameter of which reaches 25 thousand kilometers. This phenomenon remains one of the biggest mysteries of our planetary system.