Gems of the sky - Saturn - majestic and serene

[glactus]

Saturn as seen by Cassini

One of the most beautiful objects in the night sky and lying about 973 million miles from Earth, Saturn and its stunning rings can be seen with most telescopes

Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturnus, equated to the Greek Kronos, the Titan father of Zeus, and the Babylonian Ninurta . Saturn's symbol represents the god's sickle.


methane ocean of Titan

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn, along with Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, is classified as a gas giant. Together, these four planets are sometimes referred to as the Jovian planets, where Jovian is the adjectival form of Jupiter.

The planet Saturn is composed of hydrogen, with small proportions of helium and trace elements. The interior consists of a small core of rock and ice, surrounded by a thick layer of metallic hydrogen and a gaseous outer layer. The outer atmosphere is generally bland in appearance, although long-lived features can appear.

Wind speeds on Saturn can reach 1800 km/h, significantly faster than those on Jupiter. Saturn has a planetary magnetic field intermediate in strength between that of Earth and the more powerful field around Jupiter.

The planet has a prominent system of rings, consisting mostly of ice particles with a smaller amount of rocky debris and dust. Sixty known moons orbit the planet.

Titan, Saturn's largest and the Solar System's second largest moon after Jupiter's Ganymede, is larger than the planet Mercury and is the only moon in the Solar System to possess a significant atmosphere.



Credits: This is a NASA image
Text by wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn

[Andy Mac]

After our own Moon, I would say that Saturn is the next object in the sky to entice newcomers to this nutty hobby of ours. Sadly, at the present time (late 2008) Saturn is losing the main part of its beauty, as its ring system is appearing more & more edge on to our line of sight, here on Earth. The rings are therefore not currently well displayed to amateur astronomer-sized scopes and it will be a while before they start to open out again, hence displaying the ringed planet in all of its glory.