A pair of astrophysicists from Ciudad Universitaria and Universidad Complutense de Madrid, both in Spain, report evidence that comet A117uUD was put on its current "hyperbolic trajectory" when it passed close to Saturn two ...
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of Saturn and its colossal rings on July 4, 2020, during summer in the gas giant's northern hemisphere. Two of Saturn's icy moons are also clearly visible: Mimas at right, ...
Astronomy
Jul 25, 2024
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First came a rare solar eclipse, followed by the northern lights, fueled by a solar storm. The next celestial phenomenon will come next month, when skygazers can look forward to an alignment known as a "planetary parade."
Space Exploration
May 23, 2024
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Though Saturn's unusual-looking "cup handle" features were first noted by Galileo in 1610, it would be another 45 years before they were described by Christiaan Huygens as a disk surrounding Saturn. Subsequently, ground-based ...
Astronomy
Dec 21, 2023
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If you can get your hands on a telescope, there are few sights more spectacular than the magnificent ringed planet—Saturn.
Planetary Sciences
Nov 10, 2023
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Stargazers are in for a double treat this week: a rare blue supermoon with Saturn peeking from behind.
Astronomy
Aug 29, 2023
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Get ready to be amazed by the latest James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) image. Saturn's iconic rings seem to glow eerily in this incredible infrared picture, which also unveils unexpected features in Saturn's atmosphere.
Planetary Sciences
Jun 30, 2023
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Wake up early this weekend to catch a celestial sight: Five planets will line up in the sky before sunrise on Saturday.
Planetary Sciences
Jun 16, 2023
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If you've ever played Kerbal Space Program, you know how difficult it can be to get your spacecraft into the orbit you want. It's even more difficult in real life. This is why it's pretty impressive to see a proposal to study ...
Space Exploration
May 31, 2023
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Saturn's rings are one of the jewels of the solar system, but it seems that their time is short and their existence fleeting.
Astronomy
May 16, 2023
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Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn, along with Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, is classified as a gas giant. Together, these four planets are sometimes referred to as the Jovian, meaning "Jupiter-like", planets.
Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn (that became the namesake of Saturday), equated to the Greek Kronos (the Titan father of Zeus) the Babylonian Ninurta and to the Hindu Shani. Saturn's symbol represents the god's sickle (Unicode: ♄).
The planet Saturn is composed of hydrogen, with small proportions of helium and trace elements. The interior consists of a small core of rock and ice, surrounded by a thick layer of metallic hydrogen and a gaseous outer layer. The outer atmosphere is generally bland in appearance, although long-lived features can appear. Wind speeds on Saturn can reach 1,800 km/h, significantly faster than those on Jupiter. Saturn has a planetary magnetic field intermediate in strength between that of Earth and the more powerful field around Jupiter.
Saturn has a prominent system of rings, consisting mostly of ice particles with a smaller amount of rocky debris and dust. Sixty-one known moons orbit the planet, not counting hundreds of "moonlets" within the rings. Titan, Saturn's largest and the Solar System's second largest moon (after Jupiter's Ganymede), is larger than the planet Mercury and is the only moon in the Solar System to possess a significant atmosphere.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
