Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and the second-largest planet in the solar system. It has a whopping 63 official moons with another 20 awaiting confirmation of their discovery and subsequent naming.

It's the farthest planet from Earth that's visible to the unaided eye, but the planet's most outstanding features — its rings — are better viewed through a telescope.

Although the other gas giants in the solar system — Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune — also have rings, Saturn's rings are particularly prominent, earning it the nickname the "Ringed Planet."

Saturn is a gas giant made up mostly of hydrogen and helium. Saturn's volume is greater than 760 Earths, and it is the second most massive planet in the solar system, about 95 times Earth's mass. The Ringed Planet is the least dense of all the planets, and is the only one less dense than water. If there were a bathtub big enough to hold it, Saturn would float.

The yellow and gold bands seen in Saturn's atmosphere are the result of superfast winds in the upper atmosphere, which can reach up to 1,100 mph (1,800 km/h) around its equator, combined with heat rising from the planet's interior. Saturn rotates about once every 10.5 hours. The planet's high-speed spin causes Saturn to bulge at its equator and flatten at its poles. The planet is around 75,000 miles (120,000 kilometers) across at its equator, and 68,000 miles (109,000 km) from pole to pole.

SATURN'S RINGS

Galileo Galilei was the first to see Saturn's rings in 1610, although from his telescope the rings looked more like handles or arms. Forty five years later, in 1655, Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, who had a more powerful telescope, later proposed that Saturn had a thin, flat ring.

As scientists developed better instruments, they continued to learn more about the structure and composition of the rings. Saturn actually has many rings made of billions of particles of ice and rock, ranging in size from a grain of sugar to the size of a house. The particles are believed to be debris left over from comets, asteroids or shattered moons. A 2016 study also suggested the rings may be the carcasses of dwarf planets.

SATURN'S MOONS

Saturn has 63 official moons and 20 more awaiting official confirmation. The largest, Titan, is slightly larger than Mercury, and is the second-largest moon in the solar system behind Jupiter's moon Ganymede (Earth's moon is the fifth largest).

Some of the moons have extreme features. Pan and Atlas are shaped like flying saucers; Iapetus has one side as bright as snow and one side as dark as coal. Enceladus shows evidence of "ice volcanism": a hidden ocean spews out water and other chemicals from the 101 geysers spotted at the moon's southern pole. A number of these satellites, such as Prometheus and Pandora, are referred to as shepherd moons because they interact with ring material and keep the rings in their orbits.

SATURN'S INFLUENCE ON THE SOLAR SYSTEM

As the most massive planet in the solar system after Jupiter, the pull of Saturn's gravity has helped shape the fate of our solar system. It may have helped violently hurl Neptune and Uranus outward(opens in new tab). Along with Jupiter, it might also have slung a barrage of debris toward the inner planets early in the system's history.

Scientists are still learning about how gas giants form, and run models on early solar system formation to understand the role that Jupiter, Saturn and other planets play in our solar system. A 2017 study suggests that Saturn, more so than Jupiter, steers dangerous asteroids away from Earth.

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  • Frogmanfromlake [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    My parents back in my country have "moved" to living in a dugout because it's become increasingly hot to unbearable levels. They seem to not mind living underground and say it's preferable to living above.

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      It's one way to manage extreme temperatures. It was a common building style in a lot of parts of North America for a long time before modern frame houses become the norm everywhere. Once you heat up the walls the room stays warm for a long time. During the summer it takes a long time for the walls to get hot and they cool down in the evenings. I believe people in the great-plains regions used various kinds of dug-out and semi-dugout structures. It's a vast, flat region that can get very very cold in winter so having thick earth walls and semi-subterranean structures provides great thermal benefits. They were also used in some parts of Alaska for similar reason.

      Modern earth houses are usually called "Earth Ships" in the US and a lot of crunchy hippy off grid self reliance people build them. They'll use old tires and things to build the structure of the walls then cover them with a few feat of earth. Others get dug in to hill sides. The extreme heating efficiency and lower cost than conventional materials, especially in places were transporting building materials is very expensive, is a big advantage.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane-proof_building

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_shelter

      Various kinds of earthships, dugouts, and rammed earth structures are going to be important this century as a building method that can resist the heat of climate change without requiring building materials like steel and concrete that contribute to climate change themselves. plus - dirt's cheap and if the climate is suitable you can build rammed earth structures almost anywhere.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        There's also a revival of interest going on in Iranian, Middle Eastern, and North African passive temperature regulation systems.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windcatcher

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_cooling

        I'm sure SE Asia has it's own techniques, too, and I'd be shocked if Meso-American and American South-West cultures didn't develop their own solutions for extreme day-time heat.

        In a lot of senses architects across the Eurasian continent solved the problem of passive temperature regulation in regions with extreme daytime temperatures a thousand years ago, but the techniques weren't incorporated by the colonizing European countries due to arrogance about European "superiority", contempt for local technologies and methods, and a belief that free energy would last forever. Europeans building European style houses and buildings in climates wholly unsuitable for them has resulted in cities all over the world that have vastly higher energy costs than they would if architecture suitable for the region and climate had been used instead. It's a major subject in sustainability research. Presumably if we take the existing, very mature techniques and technologies that have already been developed and combine then with some modern materials science and design we could come up with very efficient structures that would be very capable in the extreme heat coming alongside global warming, but as always Capitalism and the global poverty and profit motive it enforces stands in the way.

        Fun fact: Igloos, the temporary hunting shelters of cut ice and hard-packed snow used by many communities north of the Arctic circle, rely on the same principles as earth buildings and dugout buildings. The snow layer provides significant insulation against loss of heat to the outside air, trapping heat inside the igloo. A fairly large igloo can be heated to sufficiently above freezing for comfort with a small heat source, traditionally a lamp powered by seal oil. Combined with the body heat of the occupants and the very efficient, well insulated clothing they use it allows for comfortable camping when on extended hunting trips away from permanent villages.

        They're not nearly as widely used these days - Snowmobiles, planes, and boats allow for much faster and further travel than walking or dog sleds did in the past, while global warming has destroyed the thick sea-ice that made long hunting expeditions on the ice feasible in the first place.

    • emizeko [they/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I think you might have skipped a word? I can't figure out what the first sentence means

    • Cromalin [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      i stayed in a dugout for like a week one summer. it was pretty nice!