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Saturn is named after the Roman god of wealth and agriculture, who was the father of the god Jupiter.Its astronomical symbol has been traced back to the Greek Oxyrhynchus Papyri, where it can be seen to be a Greek kappa-rho ligature with a horizontal stroke, as an abbreviation for Κρονος (), the Greek name for the planet (). [35]
Saturn – sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius about nine times that of Earth . [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Although only one-eighth the average density of Earth, with its larger volume Saturn is just over 95 times more massive.
Saturn Revolution 175, Cassini images, November 27, 2012; Saturn’s Strange Hexagon – In Living Color! – Universe Today; Edge of the hexagon from Planetary Photojournal; Saturn's Hexagon Comes to Light, APOD January 22, 2012; In the Center of Saturn's North Polar Vortex, Astronomy Picture of the Day – December 4, 2012
Of the Solar System's eight planets and its nine most likely dwarf planets, six planets and seven dwarf planets are known to be orbited by at least 300 natural satellites, or moons. At least 19 of them are large enough to be gravitationally rounded; of these, all are covered by a crust of ice except for Earth's Moon and Jupiter's Io . [ 1 ]
The Messier catalogue is one of the most famous lists of astronomical objects, and many objects on the list are still referenced by their Messier numbers. [1] The catalogue includes most of the astronomical deep-sky objects that can be easily observed from Earth's Northern Hemisphere ; many Messier objects are popular targets for amateur ...
NASA's Cassini spacecraft sent back images looking over the shoulder of Saturn's rings. See more on Saturn's rings: No telescope on this planet would ever have been able to see this.
Every 13-15 years, Saturn is angled in away in which the edge of its thin rings are oriented toward Earth – effectively causing them to vanish. Saturn's rings will disappear from view of ground ...
Planets whose orbits lie within the orbit of Earth. [nb 1] Inner planet: A planet in the Solar System that have orbits smaller than the asteroid belt. [nb 2] Outer planet: A planet in the Solar System beyond the asteroid belt, and hence refers to the gas giants. Pulsar planet: A planet that orbits a pulsar or a rapidly rotating neutron star ...