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Saturn has been known since prehistoric times, [134] and in early recorded history it was a major character in various mythologies. Babylonian astronomers systematically observed and recorded the movements of Saturn. [135] In ancient Greek, the planet was known as Φαίνων Phainon, [136] and in Roman times it was known as the "star of ...
The rings of Saturn are the most extensive and complex ring system of any planet in the Solar System. They consist of countless small particles, ranging in size from micrometers to meters, [1] that orbit around Saturn. The ring particles are made almost entirely of water ice, with a trace component of rocky material.
720,000 km/h (450,000 mi/h) [10] Orbital period. ~230 million years [10] The Solar System[d] is the gravitationally bound system of the Sun and the objects that orbit it. [11] It formed about 4.6 billion years ago when a dense region of a molecular cloud collapsed, forming the Sun and a protoplanetary disc.
Outline of Saturn. The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Saturn: 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 ...
Planets in the Solar System. According to the IAU definition, there are eight planets in the Solar System, which are (in increasing distance from the Sun): [2] Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Jupiter is the largest, at 318 Earth masses, whereas Mercury is the smallest, at 0.055 Earth masses.
Cassini–Huygens (/ k ə ˈ s iː n i ˈ h ɔɪ ɡ ən z / kə-SEE-nee HOY-gənz), commonly called Cassini, was a space-research mission by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to send a space probe to study the planet Saturn and its system, including its rings and natural satellites.
Saturn's hexagon. A partial view of Saturn's north pole, 2016. Saturn's hexagon is a persistent approximately hexagonal cloud pattern around the north pole of the planet Saturn, located at about 78°N. [1][2][3] The sides of the hexagon are about 14,500 km (9,000 mi) long, [4][5][6][7] which is about 2,000 km (1,200 mi) longer than the diameter ...
The magnetosphere of Saturn is the cavity created in the flow of the solar wind by the planet's internally generated magnetic field. Discovered in 1979 by the Pioneer 11 spacecraft, Saturn's magnetosphere is the second largest of any planet in the Solar System after Jupiter. The magnetopause, the boundary between Saturn's magnetosphere and the ...