Saturn

Known as the ringed planet, Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun. On a clear night, you can see it with the naked eye because of its steady yellow glow. It is the second largest planete, next to Jupiter, with a mass about 95 times that of the earth. However, its density is the lowest of all planets. Scientists belive it is composed mostly of hydrogen and helium gases, but it is also possible it has a rocky core surrounded by ice. The atmosphere is very gaseous containing dangerous gases, such as methane. Although it seems as if there are bands around this planet, they are not as noticeable as the bands of Jupiter.

Saturn rotates very quickly, at the speed of once every ten hours. This speed combined with the low density gives the planet a larger oblateness, or flattening of the poles than any of the other planets. In fact, the density is so low that it could float if placed in a sea large enough to hold it. It revolves very slowly taking about 29.5 Earth years to revolve around the sun. The visible features of the planet also seem to rotate at different times because depending bon the latitude.

The rings of Saturn are known as the outer ring, the bright ring and the crepe ring. The outer and bright rings are separated by a gap called Cassini;s division. The ring system measures about 40,ooo miles. The crepe ring is harder to see because it is so faint. There is also a fourth ring, called the D-ring, next to the planet. The rings are composed of rocks and boulders, but they look solid when you view them through a telescope because of their great distance from Earth. They are also quite close to the planet.

Although Saturn and its rings were actually discovered by Galileo, much of the modern knowledge comes from the discoveries of Voyagers 1 and 11. These space probes have sent back images of the rings, which shows that they have spokes. Scientist assume they are formed from microscopic dust particles and appear to be seasonal in nature.