 Saturn is the sixth planet in order of distance from the Sun and the second one for dimensions.Saturn is formed by a gaseous wrap that winds a nucleus of liquid hydrogen: its atmosphere has a structure similar to Jupiter's one, with an alternation of clear zones and dark bands parallel to the equator. There are areas with cyclonic perturbations: the winds blow with speeds that touch the 1.800 km/h at equator, while they decrease so much that they disappear in the polar zones. The planet has a strong magnetic field, whose effects are extended in the space for more than 1.200.000 km, and it gives out a quantity of heat greater than that received from the Sun. But the most remarkable structure of Saturn is, without doubt, the rings which surround the planet on the equatorial plan. Already observed by Galilei, but recognized as rings by Huygens, they are constituted by thousands of corpuscles (fragments of ice and dusts) whose diameter goes from few micrometers to the meter, each in rotation around Saturn on an own orbit; the rings, therefore, are not a rigid, compact system. Saturn is the center of a system of seventeen satellites. |
Average distance from the Sun | 1.427.000.000 km |
|---|---|---|
| Longest distance from the Sun | 1.507.000.000 km | |
| Shortest distance from the Sun | 1.347.000.000 km | |
| Period of revolution | 29,46 years | |
| Period of rotation | 10 hours, 14' | |
| Average orbital velocity | 9,6 km/s | |
| Inclination of the axis | 26° 44' | |
| Inclination of the orbit compared to the ecliptic | 2,5° | |
| Eccentricity of the orbit | 0,056 | |
| Equatorial ray | 60.300 km | |
| Deflection | 0,105 | |
| Mass | 5,7 x 10^26 kg | |
| Density | 0,69 kg/dm³ | |
| Albedo | 0,45 |
