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Saturn is named after the Roman god of wealth and agriculture and father of Jupiter. Its astronomical symbol ( ) has been traced back to the Greek Oxyrhynchus Papyri , where it can be seen to be a Greek kappa - rho ligature with a horizontal stroke , as an abbreviation for Κρονος ( Cronus ), the Greek name for the planet ( ). [34]
About 4 billion years ago, Saturn settled into its current position in the outer solar system, where it is the sixth planet from the Sun. Like Jupiter, Saturn is mostly made of hydrogen and helium, the same two main components that make up the Sun.
Jul 1, 2024 · Saturn’s name comes from the Roman god of agriculture, who is equated with the Greek deity Cronus, one of the Titans and the father of Zeus (the Roman god Jupiter). As the farthest of the planets known to ancient observers, Saturn also was noted to be the slowest-moving.
- The Italian astronomer Galileo in 1610 was the first to observe Saturn with a telescope. Although he saw a strangeness in Saturn’s appearance, the...
- Saturn orbits the Sun at a mean distance of 1,427,000,000 km (887 million miles). Its closest distance to Earth is about 1.2 billion km (746 millio...
- Saturn is surrounded by a ring system. The entire ring system spans nearly 26,000,000 km (16,000,000 miles) when the faint outer rings are included...
- Titan is Saturn's largest moon and the only moon in the solar system known to have clouds, a dense atmosphere, and liquid lakes. The diameter of it...
- Saturn has the lowest mean density—about 70 percent that of water—of any known object in the solar system. Hypothetically, Saturn would float in an...
The farthest planet from Earth discovered by the unaided human eye, Saturn has been known since ancient times. The planet is named for the Roman god of agriculture and wealth, who was also the father of Jupiter.
Jun 8, 2023 · Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. That means Jupiter and Uranus are Saturn’s neighboring planets. Quick History. Saturn has been known since ancient times because it can be seen without advanced telescopes. Four robotic spacecraft have visited Saturn, including Pioneer 11, Cassini, and Voyager 1 and 2. What does Saturn look like?
Saturn has 83 moons. Sixty-three moons are confirmed and named, and another 20 moons are awaiting confirmation of discovery and official naming by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). This Cassini image from 2012 shows Titan and its host planet Saturn. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI.
Mar 17, 2023 · Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and the second-largest planet in the solar system. It has a whopping 145 moons. It's the farthest planet from Earth that's visible to the unaided eye, but...
