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| The Saturn Planet |
| The Most Beautiful Planet In Soler Empire |
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| Unlike stormy Jupiter, Saturn looks like a calm, serene jewel floating in the sky. Floating is an appropriate description. Although it is the second largest planet in the solar system, it is the lightest. Made up almost entirely of hydrogen, it would float in water like a giant inner tube. If Jupiter is a failed star, then Saturn is an ambitious planet, spinning on its axis at a furious pace. A day on Saturn lasts a little over 11 hours. The speed of its rotation is so great that the equator bulges. You would weigh less at Saturn's equator than you would anywhere else on the planet's surface. Like Jupiter, Saturn radiates more heat than it receives from the Sun. While it may appear calm on the surface, the haze of hydrogen in the upper atmosphere hides clouds and winds that rush at tremendous speeds, agitated by the planet's inner heat. The winds of Saturn gust at 1,800 km (1,116 miles) per hour. You notice that large white bubbles of hot gas occasionally emerge from the depths of the planet's atmosphere. If these bubbles turn into whirling storms, they can last for weeks -- sometimes, even for months. Your attention cannot remain focused on the planet's surface for long. Your eyes are drawn to the magnificent rings that encircle the planet's equator. At first, you think there are only two huge rings separated by a gap of dark space. You look at them more closely and see that there are many more. Great rings are divided into bands of many rings. You notice that the rings are made up of rock and ice particles that range from the size of a golfball to the size of a basketball. Saturn's many moons shape and guide the rings. The rings are about 272,800 km (170,000 miles) in diameter but less than a kilometer thick. You see that strange, intricate braided patterns are woven into the magnificent structure of the rings. How did these rings form? Perhaps they are the remnants of a moon that never quite formed. Or perhaps a moon collided with a comet, causing both to shatter. Either way, the remains are now scattered in an orbit around Saturn's equator, creating perhaps the most beautiful sight in the solar system. The rings are entrancing, but it is time to move on. You shudder. The outer gas giants are far from the Sun's warming rays. With regret, you leave Saturn's dazzling display and force your mind to move on to Uranus. The Moon Of The saturn In 1980, when the Voyager probes flew by Saturn, they added eight new moons to the previously known nine moons (Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Phoebe). But it is difficult to say how many moons Saturn has. Some of the larger particles that compose Saturn's dazzling rings may actually be small moons. Saturn has the most moons of any planet in the solar system. Unlike the moons of Jupiter, Saturn's moon's cannot be easily categorized by composition and density. The moons that the Voyager mission uncovered exhibit a variety of characteristics. Dione and Rhea are both heavily cratered in some areas, but much less cratered in others. White wisps on the surface indicate that water once spewed out from the interiors of both moons. Of Saturn's many moons, the most interesting to us is Titan -- one of the largest in the solar system. Voyager mission scientists were startled to find that Titan has a thick atmosphere -- 60 percent more dense than Earth's. Titan is very cold -- its surface temperature is roughly -150 C (-212 F). Around that temperature, methane exists simultaneously in gas, liquid, and solid form. "Titan's methane thus might act the way water does on Earth near 32 F (0 C)," says planetologist Clark Chapman. "The view on Titan's surface ... might peer across an arctic sludge-scape .... The 'rocks,' made of methane and ammonia ices, would be mostly buried beneath a gooey layer of soil, accumulated over eons from the continual settling of tiny dust specks of tarry smog .... Titan's soupy lakes and oceans of liquid methane would often be hidden by choking mists of methane ice-fog." Tiny Mimas has one of the most visible scars in the solar system. A huge crater is evidence of a great impact that almost split the moon apart. This huge impact crater is about a third of the diameter of the moon itself. Mimas is so heavily cratered that its surface ice has been chipped into fragments. Walking on its surface would be like walking on an enormous snow cone. Enceladus has fault systems and large areas that have no impact craters at all. Tidal heating may have played an important part in resurfacing portions of this moon. This activity appears to be fairly recent, and may account for its shining surface. Enceladus reflects back nearly all of the light that reaches it. Its icy surface may be continually coated by water from its interior. Iapetus has one very bright side and one very dark side. The bright side reflects about half the light falling on it, but the other side is almost jet black. The dark material may contain organic carbon -- one of the ingredients necessary for life. Hyperion appears to be a fragment of a larger object. Its irregular shape and heavily cratered surface give it the appearance of a large asteroid. Fragments of this moon now may be part of Saturn's stunning ring system. Tethys has also survived apparent violence. A great branching trench stretches from one end of the moon almost to the other. This rift valley appears to have been created from internal forces. The stress of a freezing and expanding interior may have cracked Tethys' surface. Scientists can't explain how a moon that is more than 80 percent water ice could have experienced this type of geologic activity. The Voyager probes left no doubt about the violence that dominated Saturn's early history. Saturn's moons look like survivors of endless bombing raids. Their bright, icy surfaces are scarred by numerous impact craters. Yet one of these moons closely resembles our early Earth. Perhaps someday Titan, with its thick atmosphere, will be able to evolve a hardy form of life. |
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