Saturn (disambiguation) facts for kids

Saturn is a giant planet in our Solar System, famous for its beautiful rings. It's the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest after Jupiter. The name "Saturn" also refers to other things, like an ancient Roman god, a video game console, and even a type of car.

Saturn: The Ringed Planet

Saturn is a gas giant, which means it's mostly made of gases like hydrogen and helium, not solid rock like Earth. It's so big that more than 760 Earths could fit inside it! Even though it's huge, Saturn is the least dense planet in our Solar System. If you could find a bathtub big enough, Saturn would float in water!

What Makes Saturn Special?

Saturn is best known for its incredible system of rings. These rings are not solid, but are made up of billions of tiny pieces of ice and rock. These pieces range in size from tiny dust grains to chunks as big as mountains. They orbit Saturn in a flat, disc-like shape.

Saturn spins very fast, completing a rotation in just over 10 hours. This fast spin causes the planet to flatten out a bit at its poles and bulge at its equator, making it look slightly squashed. A year on Saturn is much longer than on Earth, lasting about 29.5 Earth years, because it has a much longer journey around the Sun.

Saturn's Amazing Rings

Saturn's rings are truly one of the most spectacular sights in the Solar System. There are seven main rings, labeled A through G, with gaps and divisions between them. The largest gap is called the Cassini Division, named after the astronomer who discovered it.

Scientists believe these rings formed from the remains of comets, asteroids, or even shattered moons that got too close to Saturn and were torn apart by its strong gravity. The rings are very thin, even though they stretch out for hundreds of thousands of kilometers.

Moons of Saturn

Saturn has many moons, more than 80 that we know of! Each moon is unique, and some are very interesting.

• Titan is Saturn's largest moon and the second largest moon in the entire Solar System (after Jupiter's Ganymede). It's the only moon with a thick atmosphere, and it even has lakes and rivers made of liquid methane and ethane!
• Enceladus is another fascinating moon. It has geysers that shoot plumes of water ice into space, suggesting there might be a liquid ocean under its icy surface.
• Mimas is famous for its giant crater, which makes it look a bit like the "Death Star" from Star Wars.

Exploring Saturn

Many robotic spacecraft have visited Saturn to study it up close.

• The Pioneer 11 probe was the first to fly past Saturn in 1979.
• The Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 missions followed in the early 1980s, giving us our first detailed images of the rings and moons.
• The Cassini-Huygens mission was the most important. The Cassini spacecraft orbited Saturn for 13 years, from 2004 to 2017, sending back amazing pictures and data. The Huygens probe landed on Titan, giving us a look at its surface.

Other Meanings of Saturn

The name "Saturn" is used for more than just the planet. Here are a few other things it can mean:

Saturn in Ancient Myths

In ancient Roman mythology, Saturn was the god of agriculture, wealth, and time. He was an important god, and the planet was named after him. The Roman festival of Saturnalia was held in his honor, which was a time of feasting and gift-giving.

Sega Saturn: A Classic Game Console

The Sega Saturn was a 32-bit video game console released by Sega in the mid-1990s. It was known for its powerful 2D graphics and popular games like Nights into Dreams... and Virtua Fighter. Many kids and teens enjoyed playing games on this console.

The Saturn Awards

The Saturn Awards are special awards given out each year to honor the best works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. These awards celebrate movies, television shows, and home videos that tell exciting and imaginative stories.

Saturn Cars

Saturn Corporation was an American car company that was part of General Motors. It was known for making cars that were designed to be different from other car brands, focusing on customer service and unique designs.