saturn

Saturn is a gas giant and the sixth planet from the Sun. It has a diameter of about 120,000 kilometers and a mass of roughly 5.68×10^26 kilograms, making it the second-largest planet in the solar system by size and mass. Its average density is about 0.69 g/cm³, which means it would float in a sufficiently large body of water. The planet is predominantly composed of hydrogen and helium, with a likely rocky core surrounded by layers of metallic hydrogen. Its atmosphere displays banded cloud patterns and various storms, including long-lived atmospheric features.

Saturn is best known for its extensive ring system, one of the most striking features in the solar system. The rings extend outward to about 280,000 kilometers from the planet but are only a few tens of meters to a few kilometers thick. They are made mostly of water ice with smaller amounts of rock and dust. The rings include prominent gaps such as the Cassini Division, along with numerous ringlets and divisions created by gravitational resonances with Saturn’s moons.

The planet hosts a large system of moons—over 80 have been confirmed. Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, has a dense, nitrogen-rich atmosphere and surface lakes of liquid methane. Enceladus is notable for geysers that eject water ice into space, helping supply Saturn’s E ring and suggesting subsurface oceans. The Cassini–Huygens mission (2004–2017) provided extensive data on Saturn and its satellites, including the Huygens probe’s landing on Titan in 2005. Saturn completes an orbit around the Sun in about 29.5 years and rotates roughly every 10.7 hours, contributing to a pronounced equatorial bulge and a strong magnetic field.