Orbital period of Saturn. Planet Saturn origin of the name name Saturn

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System after Jupiter. Saturn, as well as Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, are classified as gas giants. Saturn is named after the Roman god of agriculture.

Saturn is composed primarily of hydrogen, with some helium and traces of water, methane, ammonia and heavy elements. The inner region is a small core of iron, nickel and ice, covered with a thin layer of metallic hydrogen and a gaseous outer layer. The planet's outer atmosphere appears calm and uniform from space, although sometimes long-lasting formations appear on it. Wind speeds on Saturn can reach 1,800 km/h in places, which is significantly higher than on Jupiter. Saturn has a planetary magnetic field that is intermediate in strength between the Earth's magnetic field and the powerful field of Jupiter. Saturn's magnetic field extends 1,000,000 kilometers in the direction of the Sun. The shock wave was detected by Voyager 1 at a distance of 26.2 Saturn radii from the planet itself, the magnetopause is located at a distance of 22.9 radii.

Saturn has a prominent ring system made up primarily of ice particles and smaller amounts of heavy elements and dust. There are 62 currently known satellites orbiting the planet. Titan is the largest of them, as well as the second largest satellite in the Solar System (after the satellite of Jupiter, Ganymede), which is larger than Mercury and has the only dense atmosphere among the satellites of the Solar System.

Currently in Saturn's orbit is the Cassini automatic interplanetary station, launched in 1997 and reaching the Saturn system in 2004, whose tasks include studying the structure of the rings, as well as the dynamics of the atmosphere and magnetosphere of Saturn.

Saturn among the planets of the solar system

Saturn is a type of gas planet: it consists mainly of gases and does not have a solid surface. The equatorial radius of the planet is 60,300 km, the polar radius is 54,400 km; Of all the planets in the solar system, Saturn has the greatest compression. The planet's mass is 95 times the mass of Earth, but Saturn's average density is only 0.69 g/cm2, making it the only planet in the solar system whose average density is less than that of water. Therefore, although the masses of Jupiter and Saturn differ by more than 3 times, their equatorial diameter differs by only 19%. The density of the remaining gas giants is much higher (1.27-1.64 g/cm2). The acceleration of gravity at the equator is 10.44 m/s2, which is comparable to the values of Earth and Neptune, but much less than that of Jupiter.

The average distance between Saturn and the Sun is 1430 million km (9.58 AU). Moving at an average speed of 9.69 km/s, Saturn orbits the Sun every 10,759 days (approximately 29.5 years). The distance from Saturn to Earth varies from 1195 (8.0 AU) to 1660 (11.1 AU) million km, the average distance during their opposition is about 1280 million km. Saturn and Jupiter are in an almost exact 2:5 resonance. Since the eccentricity of Saturn’s orbit is 0.056, the difference in distance to the Sun at perihelion and aphelion is 162 million km.

The characteristic objects of Saturn's atmosphere visible during observations rotate at different speeds depending on latitude. As with Jupiter, there are several groups of such objects. The so-called “Zone 1” has a rotation period of 10 hours 14 minutes 00 seconds (that is, the speed is 844.3°/day). It extends from the northern edge of the southern equatorial belt to the southern edge of the northern equatorial belt. At all other latitudes of Saturn, making up "Zone 2", the rotation period was initially estimated at 10 hours 39 minutes 24 seconds (speed 810.76°/day). The data was subsequently revised: a new estimate was given - 10 hours, 34 minutes and 13 seconds. “Zone 3,” the presence of which is assumed based on observations of the radio emission of the planet during the flight of Voyager 1, has a rotation period of 10 hours 39 minutes 22.5 s (speed 810.8°/day).

The duration of Saturn's revolution around its axis is taken to be 10 hours, 34 minutes and 13 seconds. The exact value of the period of rotation of the internal parts of the planet remains difficult to measure. When Cassini reached Saturn in 2004, it was discovered that, based on observations of radio emission, the rotation time of the internal parts was noticeably longer than the rotation period in Zone 1 and Zone 2, approximately 10 hours 45 minutes 45 seconds (±36 seconds). .

In March 2007, it was discovered that the rotation of Saturn's radio emission pattern is generated by convection currents in the plasma disk, which depend not only on the rotation of the planet, but also on other factors. It was also reported that the fluctuation in the rotation period of the radiation pattern is associated with the activity of a geyser on Saturn's moon Enceladus. Charged particles of water vapor in the planet's orbit lead to a distortion of the magnetic field and, as a consequence, the radio emission pattern. The discovered picture gave rise to the opinion that today there is no correct method for determining the rotation speed of the planet’s core.

Origin

The origin of Saturn (as well as Jupiter) is explained by two main hypotheses. According to the “contraction” hypothesis, the composition of Saturn, similar to the Sun (large proportion of hydrogen), and, as a consequence, low density can be explained by the fact that during the formation of planets in the early stages of the development of the Solar system, massive “condensations” formed in the gas and dust disk, which gave the beginning of the planets, that is, the Sun and the planets were formed in a similar way. However, this hypothesis cannot explain the differences in composition between Saturn and the Sun.

The "accretion" hypothesis states that the formation of Saturn occurred in two stages. First, for 200 million years, the process of formation of solid dense bodies, like the terrestrial planets, took place. During this stage, some of the gas dissipated from the region of Jupiter and Saturn, which then influenced the difference in the chemical composition of Saturn and the Sun. Then the second stage began, when the largest bodies reached twice the mass of the Earth. The process of gas accretion onto these bodies from the primary protoplanetary cloud lasted for several hundred thousand years. At the second stage, the temperature of the outer layers of Saturn reached 2000 °C.

Atmosphere and structure

Aurora over Saturn's north pole. The auroras are colored blue, and the clouds below are colored red. A previously discovered hexagonal cloud is visible directly below the auroras.

Saturn's upper atmosphere is composed of 96.3% hydrogen (by volume) and 3.25% helium (compared to 10% in Jupiter's atmosphere). There are impurities of methane, ammonia, phosphine, ethane and some other gases. Ammonia clouds in the upper atmosphere are more powerful than Jovian clouds. Clouds in the lower atmosphere are composed of ammonium hydrosulfide (NH4SH) or water.

According to Voyagers, strong winds blow on Saturn; the devices recorded air speeds of 500 m/s. Winds blow mainly in the easterly direction (in the direction of axial rotation). Their strength weakens with distance from the equator; As we move away from the equator, westerly atmospheric currents also appear. A number of data indicate that atmospheric circulation occurs not only in the layer of upper clouds, but also at a depth of at least 2 thousand km. In addition, Voyager 2 measurements showed that winds in the southern and northern hemispheres are symmetrical relative to the equator. There is an assumption that the symmetrical flows are somehow connected under the layer of visible atmosphere.

In the atmosphere of Saturn, stable formations sometimes appear that are super-powerful hurricanes. Similar objects are observed on other gas planets of the Solar System (see the Great Red Spot on Jupiter, the Great Dark Spot on Neptune). A giant "Great White Oval" appears on Saturn about once every 30 years, last seen in 1990 (smaller hurricanes form more often).

On November 12, 2008, Cassini cameras captured images of Saturn's north pole in the infrared. On them, researchers discovered auroras, the likes of which have never been observed before in the Solar System. These auroras were also observed in the ultraviolet and visible ranges. Auroras are bright, continuous, oval-shaped rings surrounding the planet's pole. The rings are located at a latitude, usually 70-80°. The southern rings are located at an average latitude of 75 ± 1°, and the northern ones are closer to the pole by about 1.5°, which is due to the fact that the magnetic field is somewhat stronger in the northern hemisphere. Sometimes the rings become spiral-shaped instead of oval.

Unlike Jupiter, Saturn's auroras are not associated with uneven rotation of the plasma layer in the outer parts of the planet's magnetosphere. Presumably, they arise due to magnetic reconnection under the influence of the solar wind. The shape and appearance of Saturn's auroras vary greatly over time. Their location and brightness are strongly related to the pressure of the solar wind: the higher it is, the brighter the auroras and closer to the pole. The average power of the aurora is 50 GW in the range of 80-170 nm (ultraviolet) and 150-300 GW in the range of 3-4 microns (infrared).

On December 28, 2010, Cassini photographed a storm that resembled cigarette smoke. Another particularly powerful storm was recorded on May 20, 2011.

Hexagonal formation at the North Pole

Hexagonal atmospheric formation at Saturn's north pole

The clouds at Saturn's north pole form a hexagon - a giant hexagon. First discovered during Voyager's flybys of Saturn in the 1980s, a similar phenomenon has never been observed anywhere else in the solar system. The hexagon is located at latitude 78°, and each side is approximately 13,800 km, that is, more than the diameter of the Earth. Its rotation period is 10 hours 39 minutes. If Saturn's south pole with its spinning hurricane doesn't seem strange, then the north pole may be considered much more unusual. This period coincides with the period of change in the intensity of radio emission, which in turn is taken to be equal to the period of rotation of the interior of Saturn.

The strange cloud structure is shown in an infrared image taken by the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn in October 2006. The images show that the hexagon remained stable for 20 years after Voyager's flight. Movies showing Saturn's north pole show the clouds maintaining a hexagonal structure as they rotate. Individual clouds on Earth may have a hexagonal shape, but unlike them, the cloud system on Saturn has six well-defined sides of almost equal length. Four Earths can fit inside this hexagon. It is assumed that there is significant cloud variability in the hexagon area. Areas where there is virtually no cloud cover have altitudes of up to 75 km.

There is no complete explanation for this phenomenon yet, but scientists were able to conduct an experiment that fairly accurately simulated this atmospheric structure. The researchers placed a 30-liter bottle of water on a rotating machine, with small rings inside that rotated faster than the container. The higher the speed of the ring, the more the shape of the vortex, which was formed during the combined rotation of the installation elements, differed from circular. The experiment also produced a hexagon-shaped vortex.

Internal structure

Internal structure of Saturn

Deep in Saturn's atmosphere, pressure and temperature increase, and hydrogen turns into a liquid state, but this transition is gradual. At a depth of about 30 thousand km, hydrogen becomes metallic (and the pressure reaches about 3 million atmospheres). The circulation of electric currents in metallic hydrogen creates a magnetic field (much less powerful than that of Jupiter). At the center of the planet there is a massive core of heavy materials - stone, iron and, presumably, ice. Its mass ranges from approximately 9 to 22 Earth masses. The temperature of the core reaches 11,700 °C, and the energy it radiates into space is 2.5 times more than the energy that Saturn receives from the Sun. A significant part of this energy is generated due to the Kelvin-Heimholtz mechanism, which consists in the fact that when the temperature of the planet drops, the pressure in it also drops. As a result, it contracts, and the potential energy of its substance turns into heat. At the same time, however, it was shown that this mechanism cannot be the only source of energy for the planet. It is assumed that an additional part of the heat is created due to condensation and subsequent fall of helium drops through a layer of hydrogen (less dense than drops) deep into the core. The result is the conversion of the potential energy of these drops into thermal energy. The core region is estimated to have a diameter of approximately 25,000 km.

A magnetic field

Structure of Saturn's magnetosphere

Saturn's magnetosphere was discovered by the Pioneer 11 spacecraft in 1979. In size it is second only to the magnetosphere of Jupiter. The magnetopause, the boundary between Saturn's magnetosphere and the solar wind, is located at a distance of about 20 Saturn radii from its center, and the magnetotail extends for hundreds of radii. Saturn's magnetosphere is filled with plasma produced by the planet and its moons. Among the satellites, the largest role is played by Enceladus, whose geysers emit about 300-600 kg of water vapor every second, part of which is ionized by Saturn’s magnetic field.

The interaction between Saturn's magnetosphere and the solar wind generates bright aurora ovals around the planet's poles, visible in visible, ultraviolet and infrared light. The magnetic field of Saturn, like Jupiter, is created due to the dynamo effect during the circulation of metallic hydrogen in the outer core. The magnetic field is almost dipole, just like the Earth's, with north and south magnetic poles. The north magnetic pole is located in the northern hemisphere, and the south pole is in the southern hemisphere, unlike the Earth, where the location of the geographic poles is opposite to the location of the magnetic ones. The magnitude of the magnetic field at Saturn's equator is 21 μT (0.21 G), which corresponds to a dipole magnetic moment of approximately 4.6? 10 18 T m3. Saturn's magnetic dipole is rigidly connected to its rotation axis, so the magnetic field is very asymmetrical. The dipole is slightly shifted along Saturn's rotation axis towards the north pole.

Saturn's internal magnetic field deflects the solar wind away from the planet's surface, preventing it from interacting with the atmosphere, and creates a region called the magnetosphere, filled with a very different kind of plasma than that of the solar wind. The magnetosphere of Saturn is the second largest magnetosphere in the Solar System, the largest is the magnetosphere of Jupiter. As in the Earth's magnetosphere, the boundary between the solar wind and the magnetosphere is called the magnetopause. The distance from the magnetopause to the center of the planet (along the Sun - Saturn straight line) varies from 16 to 27 Rs (Rs = 60,330 km - the equatorial radius of Saturn). The distance depends on the pressure of the solar wind, which depends on solar activity. The average distance to the magnetopause is 22 Rs. On the other side of the planet, the solar wind stretches Saturn's magnetic field into a long magnetic tail.

Saturn Research

Saturn is one of the five planets in the solar system that are easily visible to the naked eye from Earth. At maximum, Saturn's brilliance exceeds first magnitude. To observe the rings of Saturn, you need a telescope with a diameter of at least 15 mm. With an instrument aperture of 100 mm, a darker polar cap, a dark stripe near the tropics and the shadow of the rings on the planet are visible. And at 150-200 mm, four to five bands of clouds in the atmosphere and inhomogeneities in them will become noticeable, but their contrast will be noticeably less than that of Jupiter.

View of Saturn through a modern telescope (left) and through a telescope from Galileo's time (right)

Observing Saturn for the first time through a telescope in 1609-1610, Galileo Galilei noticed that Saturn did not appear as a single celestial body, but as three bodies almost touching each other, and suggested that these were two large “companions” (satellites) of Saturn. Two years later, Galileo repeated the observations and, to his amazement, found no satellites.

In 1659, Huygens, using a more powerful telescope, found that the “companions” are actually a thin flat ring encircling the planet and not touching it. Huygens also discovered Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Since 1675, Cassini has been studying the planet. He noticed that the ring consists of two rings separated by a clearly visible gap - the Cassini gap, and discovered several more large satellites of Saturn: Iapetus, Tethys, Dione and Rhea.

There were no further significant discoveries until 1789, when W. Herschel discovered two more satellites - Mimas and Enceladus. Then a group of British astronomers discovered the Hyperion satellite, with a shape very different from spherical, in orbital resonance with Titan. In 1899, William Pickering discovered Phoebe, which belongs to the class of irregular satellites and does not rotate synchronously with Saturn like most satellites. The period of its revolution around the planet is more than 500 days, while the revolution goes in the opposite direction. In 1944, Gerard Kuiper discovered the presence of a powerful atmosphere on another satellite, Titan. This phenomenon is unique for the satellite in the Solar System.

In the 1990s, Saturn, its moons and rings were studied repeatedly by the Hubble Space Telescope. Long-term observations provided a lot of new information that was not available to Pioneer 11 and Voyagers during their one-time flyby of the planet. Several satellites of Saturn were also discovered, and the maximum thickness of its rings was determined. During measurements carried out on November 20-21, 1995, their detailed structure was determined. During the period of maximum ring inclination in 2003, 30 images of the planet were obtained in different wavelength ranges, which at that time provided the best coverage of the emission spectrum in the entire history of observations. These images allowed scientists to better study the dynamic processes occurring in the atmosphere and create models of the seasonal behavior of the atmosphere. Also, large-scale observations of Saturn were carried out by the Southern European Observatory from 2000 to 2003. Several small, irregularly shaped satellites were discovered.

Research using spacecraft

Eclipse of the Sun by Saturn on September 15, 2006. Photo of the Cassini interplanetary station from a distance of 2.2 million km

In 1979, the US automatic interplanetary station (AIS) Pioneer 11 flew near Saturn for the first time in history. The study of the planet began on August 2, 1979. After the final approach, the device made a flight in the plane of Saturn's rings on September 1, 1979. The flight took place at an altitude 20,000 km above the maximum cloud altitude of the planet. Images of the planet and some of its satellites were obtained, but their resolution was not sufficient to discern surface details. Also, due to the low illumination of Saturn by the Sun, the images were too dim. The device also studied the rings. Among the discoveries was the discovery of a thin F ring. In addition, it was discovered that many areas visible from Earth as light were visible from Pioneer 11 as dark, and vice versa. The device also measured the temperature of Titan. Exploration of the planet continued until September 15, after which the device flew to the more outer parts of the solar system.

In 1980-1981, Pioneer 11 was also followed by the American spacecraft Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Voyager 1 approached the planet on November 13, 1980, but its exploration of Saturn began three months earlier. A number of high-resolution photographs were taken during the passage. It was possible to obtain images of the satellites: Titan, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea. At the same time, the device flew near Titan at a distance of only 6,500 km, which made it possible to collect data on its atmosphere and temperature. It was found that Titan's atmosphere is so dense that it does not transmit enough light in the visible range, so photographs of its surface details could not be obtained. After this, the device left the ecliptic plane of the Solar System to photograph Saturn from the pole.

Saturn and its moons - Titan, Janus, Mimas and Prometheus - against the background of Saturn's rings, visible from the edge and disk of the giant planet

A year later, on August 25, 1981, Voyager 2 approached Saturn. During its flight, the device carried out a study of the planet's atmosphere using radar. Data were obtained on the temperature and density of the atmosphere. About 16,000 photographs of observations were sent back to Earth. Unfortunately, during the flights, the camera rotation system jammed for several days, and some of the necessary images could not be obtained. Then the device, using the gravitational force of Saturn, turned around and flew towards Uranus. Also, these devices for the first time discovered the magnetic field of Saturn and explored its magnetosphere, observed storms in the atmosphere of Saturn, obtained detailed images of the structure of the rings and found out their composition. The Maxwell gap and the Keeler gap in the rings were discovered. In addition, several new satellites of the planet were discovered near the rings.

In 1997, the Cassini-Huygens space probe was launched to Saturn, which, after 7 years of flight, reached the Saturn system on July 1, 2004 and entered orbit around the planet. The main objectives of this mission, initially designed for 4 years, were to study the structure and dynamics of the rings and satellites, as well as study the dynamics of the atmosphere and magnetosphere of Saturn and a detailed study of the planet's largest satellite, Titan.

Before entering orbit in June 2004, the spacecraft passed Phoebe and sent high-resolution images and other data back to Earth. In addition, the American Cassini orbiter has flown by Titan several times. Images of large lakes and their coastlines with a significant number of mountains and islands were obtained. Then the special European probe “Huygens” separated from the apparatus and parachuted on January 14, 2005, to the surface of Titan. The descent took 2 hours 28 minutes. During its descent, Huygens took samples of the atmosphere. According to the interpretation of data from the Huygens probe, the upper part of the clouds consists of methane ice, and the lower part consists of liquid methane and nitrogen.

Since early 2005, scientists have been observing radiation coming from Saturn. On January 23, 2006, a storm occurred on Saturn, which produced a flare 1000 times more powerful than normal radiation. In 2006, NASA reported that the apparatus had detected obvious traces of water that erupted from the geysers of Enceladus. In May 2011, NASA scientists said that Enceladus "appears to be the most habitable place in the solar system after Earth."

Saturn and its moons: in the center of the picture is Enceladus, on the right, in close-up, half of Rhea is visible, from behind which Mimas peeks out. Photo taken by the Cassini probe, July 2011

The photographs taken by Cassini led to other significant discoveries. Using them, previously undiscovered rings of the planet were discovered outside the main bright region of the rings and inside the G and E rings. These rings were named R/2004 S1 and R/2004 S2. It is assumed that the material for these rings could have been formed due to the impact of a meteorite or comet on Janus or Epimetheus. In July 2006, Cassini images revealed the presence of a hydrocarbon lake near Titan's north pole. This fact was finally confirmed by additional photographs in March 2007. In October 2006, a hurricane with a diameter of 8,000 km was discovered at the south pole of Saturn.

In October 2008, Cassini transmitted images of the planet's northern hemisphere. Since 2004, when Cassini flew up to it, noticeable changes have occurred, and it is now painted in unusual colors. The reasons for this are not yet clear. The recent change in colors is believed to be due to the change of seasons. From 2004 to November 2, 2009, 8 new satellites were discovered using the device. Cassini's main mission ended in 2008, when the device completed 74 orbits around the planet. The probe's mission was then extended until September 2010, and then until 2017 to study the full cycle of Saturn's seasons.

In 2009, a joint American-European project between NASA and ESA appeared to launch the Titan Saturn System Mission to study Saturn and its satellites Titan and Enceladus. During it, the station will fly to the Saturn system for 7-8 years, and then become a satellite of Titan for two years. It will also launch a probe balloon into Titan’s atmosphere and a landing module (possibly floating).

Satellites

The largest satellites - Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan and Iapetus - were discovered by 1789, but to this day they remain the main objects of research. The diameters of these satellites vary from 397 (Mimas) to 5150 km (Titan), the semi-major axis of the orbit from 186 thousand km (Mimas) to 3561 thousand km (Iapetus). The mass distribution corresponds to the diameter distribution. Titan has the greatest orbital eccentricity, Dione and Tethys have the least. All satellites with known parameters are located above the synchronous orbit, which leads to their gradual removal.

Saturn's moons

The largest of the satellites is Titan. It is also the second largest in the Solar System as a whole, after Jupiter's moon Ganymede. Titan is made up of about half water ice and half rock. This composition is similar to some of the other large satellites of the gas planets, but Titan is very different from them in the composition and structure of its atmosphere, which is mainly composed of nitrogen, and also has small amounts of methane and ethane, which form clouds. Titan is also the only body in the solar system, besides the Earth, for which the existence of liquid on the surface has been proven. The possibility of the emergence of simple organisms is not excluded by scientists. Titan's diameter is 50% larger than that of the Moon. It is also larger than the planet Mercury, although inferior to it in mass.

Other major satellites also have characteristic features. Thus, Iapetus has two hemispheres with different albedo (0.03-0.05 and 0.5, respectively). Therefore, when Giovanni Cassini discovered this satellite, he discovered that it is visible only when it is on a certain side of Saturn. The leading and posterior hemispheres of Dione and Rhea also have their differences. Dione's leading hemisphere is heavily cratered and uniform in brightness. The posterior hemisphere contains dark areas, as well as a web of thin light stripes, which are ice ridges and cliffs. A distinctive feature of Mimas is the huge impact crater Herschel with a diameter of 130 km. Similarly, Tethys has the Odysseus crater with a diameter of 400 km. Enceladus, as imaged by Voyager 2, has a surface with areas of varying geological ages, massive craters in the mid- and high northern latitudes, and minor craters closer to the equator.

As of February 2010, 62 satellites of Saturn are known. 12 of them were discovered using spacecraft: Voyager 1 (1980), Voyager 2 (1981), Cassini (2004-2007). Most of the satellites, except Hyperion and Phoebe, have a synchronous rotation of their own - they are always turned to Saturn with one side. There is no information about the rotation of the smallest satellites. Tethys and Dione are each accompanied by two satellites at the Lagrange points L4 and L5.

During 2006, a team of scientists led by David Jewitt of the University of Hawaii, working at the Japanese Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, announced the discovery of 9 moons of Saturn. All of them belong to the so-called irregular satellites, which are characterized by a retrograde orbit. The period of their revolution around the planet ranges from 862 to 1300 days.

Rings

Comparison of Saturn and Earth

Today we know that all four gaseous giants have rings, but Saturn's is the most prominent. The rings are located at an angle of approximately 28° to the ecliptic plane. Therefore, from the Earth, depending on the relative position of the planets, they look different: they can be seen both in the form of rings and “edge-on”. As Huygens also assumed, the rings are not a solid solid body, but consist of billions of tiny particles located in circumplanetary orbit. This was proven by spectrometric observations by A. A. Belopolsky at the Pulkovo Observatory and two other scientists in 1895-1896.

There are three main rings and a fourth - thinner one. Together they reflect more light than the disk of Saturn itself. The three main rings are usually designated by the first letters of the Latin alphabet. Ring B is the central one, the widest and brightest, it is separated from the outer ring A by the Cassini gap, almost 4000 km wide, which contains the thinnest, almost transparent rings. Inside the A ring there is a thin gap called the Encke separating strip. Ring C, located even closer to the planet than B, is almost transparent.

Saturn's rings are very thin. With a diameter of about 250,000 km, their thickness does not reach even a kilometer (although there are also peculiar mountains on the surface of the rings). Despite its impressive appearance, the amount of substance that makes up the rings is extremely small. If it were assembled into one monolith, its diameter would not exceed 100 km. The images obtained by the probes show that the rings are actually formed from thousands of rings alternating with slits; the picture resembles the tracks of gramophone records. The particles that make up the rings range in size from 1 centimeter to 10 meters. In composition, they are 93% ice with minor impurities, which may include copolymers formed under the influence of solar radiation and silicates, and 7% carbon.

There is consistency in the movement of particles in the rings and the planet's satellites. Some of them, called “shepherd moons,” play a role in keeping the rings in place. Mimas, for example, is in a 2:1 resonance with the Cassinian gap and, under the influence of its attraction, matter is removed from it, and Pan is located inside the Encke dividing strip. In 2010, data was obtained from the Cassini probe that suggests that Saturn's rings are oscillating. The oscillations consist of constant disturbances introduced by Mimas and spontaneous disturbances arising due to the interaction of particles flying in the ring. The origin of Saturn's rings is not yet entirely clear. According to one theory, put forward in 1849 by Edouard Roche, the rings were formed due to the disintegration of a liquid satellite under the influence of tidal forces. According to another, the satellite disintegrated due to the impact of a comet or asteroid.

This article is a message or report about Saturn, which sets out characteristic of this planet of the Solar System: basic astronomical data, structure of the atmosphere and core, description of the rings and satellites.

Astronomical data of Saturn

Maximum distance from the Sun (aphelion) 1.513 billion km (10.116 AU)
Minimum distance from the Sun (perihelion) 1.354 billion km (9.048 AU)
Equator diameter 120,540 km
Average temperature of the upper atmosphere-180º C
Period of revolution around the Sun 29,458 Earth years
Period of rotation around the axis 10 h 34 min 13 s
Number of rings 8
Number of satellites 62

Description of the planet

This planet - a pale golden ball surrounded by a thin ring - got its name from the ancient Roman god of crops, the father of Jupiter. The sixth in the solar system and the second largest, Saturn orbits our star at an average distance of 1.4 billion km, being twice as far from the star as Jupiter. The substance of this celestial body, like Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, has a low average density (0.69 g/cm3), since it consists mainly of gases; Nevertheless, Saturn, which belongs to the giant planets, is approximately 95 times more massive than the Earth.

Due to its large distance from the center of the Solar System, its orbital period (i.e., a Saturnian year) is very long and amounts to about 29.5 Earth years. At the same time, Saturn’s rotation around its axis occurs much faster than that of the Earth: one day here lasts only 10 hours 34 minutes. The speed of movement of clouds over the equatorial zone of the planet is such that they complete a full revolution 26 minutes faster than clouds at higher latitudes; the reason for this is the enormous strength (about 500 m/s) winds blowing in the upper layers of the atmosphere.

Atmosphere and core

Saturn is shrouded in a dense, cloud-filled layer of gases. Its atmosphere is based on helium and hydrogen; The clouds are composed mainly of water and ammonia crystals. Just like its closest neighbor in the solar system, Jupiter, in the visible atmospheric layers of this planet there are certain areas colored in both darker and lighter colors (the so-called belts and zones, respectively); they are quite clearly distinguishable, although less contrasting than those of Jupiter. In addition, it also experiences relatively stable atmospheric disturbances - such as the Great White Spot, which existed for a few months and then re-emerged about three decades later; a giant oval formation the size of Earth located near the north pole has been named the Great Brown Spot.

Reaching a diameter of approximately 120.5 thousand km, the irregular ball (the planet’s atmosphere is highly susceptible to flattening at the poles, since rapid rotation helps to “squeeze” it into the equatorial regions) consists of several layers. It is assumed that at least two layers of liquid hydrogen are hidden in its depths, and one of them, consisting of so-called metallic hydrogen, can conduct electricity.

Saturn's core is a huge sphere, apparently composed of rocks and ice. According to scientists, its size exceeds the core of Jupiter (about 30 thousand km): indirect evidence of this is the more active movement of atmospheric masses from the poles to the equator.

Rings

Since the planet's axis is very strongly inclined - more than 63º - to the orbital plane, terrestrial astronomers have an excellent opportunity to observe these amazing formations in plan. They are believed to have been first seen by Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) in 1610, but due to imperfect telescopes they were thought to be a chain of satellites; only half a century later, the Dutch scientist Huygens managed to find out that this is a ring surrounding the planet and not touching it anywhere.

Due to the movement of Saturn in its orbit, the rings slowly turn towards us, first on one side, then on the other; Every 15 years they are located edge-on towards us, and then they cannot be seen even with the most powerful telescopes. At first it was believed that it was a huge monolith, but later research disproved this theory. In particular, information received from spacecraft of the Pioneer and Voyager series in 1970-1980 testified: Saturn is surrounded by no less than seven rings, and the structure of each is very complex. The eighth ring - the Phoebe ring - with a diameter of more than 13 million km, was discovered in 2009. There is also an assumption about the presence of a system of rings near one of Saturn's moons - Rhea.

Apparently, the rings are the remnants of that pre-planetary cloud that gave birth to all the bodies of the Solar System, and consist of small - from 1 mm to several meters - dust particles covered with ice. With an average thickness of 10 m to 10 km, their diameter is 270 thousand km. The three brightest are named A, B and C; Unlike the rings D, E, F and G, which are narrower and fainter, they are clearly visible from the Earth even with a weak telescope. Rings A and B are separated by the so-called Cassini gap (named after the Italian astronomer who lived in the 17th-18th centuries); a similar “hole” in the body of ring A is called the Encke gap. In addition, the Cassini automatic station at the beginning of 2004 discovered the presence of a radiation belt inside the rings of Saturn, which came as a complete surprise to scientists.

Satellites

In addition to the billions of tiny moons that make up its rings, Saturn also has a large number of satellites - 62. Their size and shape are very different: there are objects like Iapetus and Rhea (average diameters of 1,436 and 1,528 km, respectively), and there are small satellites, such as Atlas (about 32 km) and Telesto (24 km). Thanks to modern equipment, in recent years it has become possible to discover many satellites, the smallest by cosmic standards, with a diameter of less than 10 km.

Saturn's largest satellite is Titan, its diameter is 5,150 km and in the entire solar system it is second only to Jupiter's satellite Ganymede. Titan is one of the most interesting satellites of Saturn: it is believed that the processes occurring in its atmosphere (85% nitrogen, about 12% argon and 3% methane) are similar to those that could be found on the young Earth billions of years ago. On January 14, 2005, the Huygens probe was lowered to this planet, transmitting a lot of valuable scientific information.

The orbital periods and orbital radii in each of the three groups of Saturn's satellites - Tethys, Telesto and Calypso, Dione and Helena, Janus and Epimetheus - are the same. There are other interesting facts: for example, the Encke gap inside the A ring arose thanks to the satellite Pan, whose orbit lies in the same plane, and the Atlas and Prometheus satellites, between whose orbits the F ring is located, prevent its constituent particles from scattering in space (for this they received the nickname "shepherd moons").

In addition to Saturn, other planets of the solar system also have rings: Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune.

The universe is full of mysteries, as evidenced by interesting facts about the planet Saturn- a celestial body named after the long-time ruler of the Titans - Kronos.

The planet's shape resembles an oblate ball. Saturn acquired this shape as a result of rapid rotation around its axis. A day here lasts only 10.7 hours. Due to such intense rotation, the planet flattens itself.
The celestial body has a huge number of satellites (63). Scientists claim that some of them have the necessary conditions for life.
Saturn has a developed system of rings, each of which has a bright and dark side. However, the inhabitants of the Earth have the opportunity to see exclusively the bright side. From our planet, the rings seem to disappear from time to time. This is due to the fact that only the edges of the rings are visible when tilted. According to modern theories, the rings were formed as a result of the destruction of Saturn's moons.
If you imagine that the Sun is the size of a front door, then Saturn will resemble a basketball. In this case, the Earth will be the size of an ordinary coin.
The planet is mainly composed of helium and hydrogen gases. It has almost no hard surface.
If you put Saturn in water, it can float like a ball.. This is possible because the density of the planet is 2 times less than that of water.
All rings have names that correspond to letters of the Latin alphabet. They received their names in the order in which they were discovered.
Scientists around the world are actively studying Saturn. To this day, 5 missions have visited there. The first spacecraft visited this site in 1979. Since 2004, the study of the features of the celestial body has been carried out using a spacecraft called Cassini.
40% of all satellites in the Universe revolve around Saturn. Among them there are both regular and irregular satellites. The orbits of the first ones are quite close to the planet, the others are located far away. They were captured recently. The moon Phoebus is located farthest from the planet.
Astronomers hypothesize that Saturn influenced the structure of the solar system. Due to the action of its gravity, the planet managed to throw Uranus and Neptune aside. However, for now this is just an assumption for which evidence needs to be found.
The pressure of the atmosphere of the planet Saturn exceeds that of Earth by 3 million times. On this gas planet, hydrogen is compressed into a liquid and then a solid state. If a person gets there, he will immediately be flattened by atmospheric pressure.
The planet is characterized by northern lights. It was captured by a spacecraft near the North Pole. A similar phenomenon could not be detected on any other planet.
Bad weather is constantly raging on Saturn. A strong wind blows there, which at times turns into a hurricane. Local hurricanes are similar in their course to terrestrial ones. Only they appear much more often. During hurricanes, giant spots that resemble funnels form. They can be seen from space.
Saturn is considered the most beautiful planet. The beauty of Saturn is ensured by the delicate blue color of the surface and bright rings. By the way, you can see this celestial body from Earth without any optical instruments. The brightest star in the sky is Saturn.
The planet emits 2 times more energy than it receives from the Sun. Due to its remote location, very little solar energy reaches Saturn. It is 91 times less than what the Earth receives. At the bottom of the planet's clouds, the air temperature is only 150K. According to scientific hypotheses, the source of internal energy can be the energy released as a result of gravitational differentiation of helium.

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There are a lot of amazing space objects in our Solar System, and interest in them continues unabated. One of these objects is Saturn - the sixth planet of the solar system, the most amazing and unusual celestial body located in outer space closest to us. The huge size, the presence of wonderful rings, and other interesting facts and features that the sixth planet has make it the object of close attention of astrophysicists.

Discovery of a ringed planet

Saturn, like its neighbor, the huge Jupiter, is one of the largest objects in the solar system. Man began to collect the first information about the beautiful planet back in the era of ancient civilizations. The Egyptians, Persians and ancient Greeks personified Saturn with the supreme deity, endowing the yellowish star in the night sky with mystical power. Ancient peoples attached great importance to this planet, creating and forming the first calendars on it.

In the era of Ancient Rome, the worship of Saturn reached its apogee, giving rise to the Saturnalia - agricultural holidays. Over time, the worship of Saturn became a whole trend in the culture of the ancient Romans.

The first scientific facts about the planet Saturn date back to the end of the 16th century. This is the great merit of Galileo Galilei. It was he who, with the help of his imperfect telescope, first placed Saturn among the objects of our solar system. The only thing that the famous astronomer failed to do was discover the charming rings of the planet. The decoration of the planet in the form of huge rings, with diameters three to four times greater than the diameter of the planet itself, was discovered in 1610 by the Dutch astrophysicist Christiaan Huygens.

Only in the modern era, when more powerful ground-based telescopes appeared, the scientific community was able to fully examine the wonderful rings and discover other interesting facts about the planet Saturn.

A brief excursion into the history of the planet

The sixth planet of the solar system is among the same gas giants as Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. Unlike the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, these are real giants, celestial bodies of enormous gaseous structure. It is not for nothing that scientists consider Saturn and Jupiter to be related planets, with similar atmosphere composition and astrophysical parameters.

Thanks to its surroundings, represented by a whole cohort of large and small satellites, huge and bright rings, the planet is considered the most recognizable in the solar system. However, despite this, this planet is the least studied. The description of the planet today comes down to ordinary and meager static data, including the size, mass, and density of the celestial body. No less scarce information is available about the composition of the planet’s atmosphere and its geomagnetic field. The surface of Saturn, hidden by dense gas clouds, is generally considered a dark spot in science for astrophysicists.

What do we know about Saturn today? This planet appears quite often in the night sky and is a bright star of pale yellow color. During oppositions, this celestial body looks like a star with a brightness of 0.2-0.3 m magnitude.

The planet's relatively high brightness is more likely due to the planet's large size. Saturn has a diameter of 116,464 thousand km, which is 9.5 times larger than the parameters of the Earth. The ringed giant looks like an egg, elongated at the poles and flattened in the equatorial region. The average radius of the planet is just over 58 thousand km. Together with the rings, the diameter of Saturn is 270 thousand km. The mass is 568,360,000 trillion trillion kg.

Saturn is 95 times heavier than Earth and is the second largest space object in the solar system after Jupiter. At the same time, the density of this monster is only 0.687 g/cm3. For comparison, the density of our blue planet is 5.51 g/cm³. In other words, a huge gas planet is lighter than water, and if Saturn were placed in a huge pool of water, it would remain on the surface.

Saturn has an area of over 42 billion square meters. kilometers, exceeding the area of the earth's surface by 87 times. The volume of the gas giant is 827.13 trillion. cubic kilometers.

The data on the orbital position of the planet are interesting. Saturn is 10 times farther from the Sun than our planet. Sunlight reaches the surface of the ringed planet in 1 hour 20 minutes. The orbit has the third highest eccentricity, second only to Mercury and Mars. The planet's orbit is distinguished by a small difference between aphelion and perihelion, which is 1.54x108 km. At its maximum, Saturn moves away from the Sun at a distance of 1513,783 km. The minimum distance of Saturn from the Sun is 1353600 km.

The astrophysical characteristics of the planet in comparison with other celestial objects in the Solar System are quite interesting. The orbital speed of the planet is 9.6 km/s. A full revolution around our central star takes Saturn less than 30 years. At the same time, the speed of rotation of the planet around its own axis is much higher than that of the Earth. Saturn's revolution around its own axis can be 10 hours and 33 minutes, versus 24 hours for our world. In other words, a Saturnian day is much shorter than an Earth day, but a year on a ringed planet will last as long as 24,491 Earth days. The closest planets to Saturn - Jupiter and Uranus - rotate around their own axis much more slowly.

A characteristic feature of the position of the planet and the speed of rotation around its own axis is the presence of changes in seasons. The axis of rotation of the ringed giant is inclined to the orbital plane at the same angle as the Earth. There are also seasons on Saturn, but they last much longer: spring, summer, autumn and winter last almost 7 years on Saturn.

The giant is located at an average distance of 1.28 billion kilometers from Earth. During periods of opposition, Saturn is closest to our world at a distance of 1.20 billion kilometers.

At such enormous distances, it will take a long time to fly to the ringed gas giant with current technical capabilities. The first automatic probe, Pioneer 11, flew to Saturn for more than 6 years. Another space hulk, the Voyager 1 probe, took more than 3 years to reach the gas giant. The most famous spacecraft, Cassini, flew to Saturn for 7 years. The latest achievement of mankind in the field of study and exploration of outer space in the Saturn region was the flight of the automatic probe “New Horizons”. This device reached the ring region 2 years and 4 months from the date of launch at the Cape Canaveral Space Center.

Characteristics and composition of the planet's atmosphere

In its structure, the second largest planet in the solar system is very similar to Jupiter. The gas giant consists of three layers. The first, innermost layer is a dense, massive core consisting of silicates and metal. In terms of mass, Saturn's core is 20 times heavier than our planet. The temperature in the center of the core reaches 10-11 thousand degrees Celsius. This is explained by the colossal pressure in the inner regions of the planet, which reaches 3 million atmospheres. The combination of high temperature and enormous pressure leads to the fact that the planet itself is capable of radiating energy into the surrounding space. Saturn gives off 2.5 times more energy than it receives from our star.

Scientists believe that the diameter of the core is 25 thousand kilometers. If you rise higher, after the core a layer of metallic hydrogen begins. Its thickness varies between 30-40 thousand km. Behind the layer of metallic hydrogen begins the uppermost layer, the so-called surface of the planet, filled with hydrogen and helium in a semi-liquid state. The layer of molecular hydrogen on Saturn is only 12 thousand km. Like other gas planets in the Solar System, Saturn does not have a clear boundary between the atmosphere and the surface of the planet. A huge amount of hydrogen creates an intensive circulation of electric currents, which, together with the magnetic axis of the planet, form the magnetic field of Saturn. It should be noted that the magnetic shell of Saturn is inferior in strength to the magnetic field of Jupiter.

According to the composition of the atmosphere, the sixth planet of the solar system consists of 96% hydrogen. Only 4% comes from helium. The thickness of the atmospheric layer on Saturn is only 60 km, but the main feature of the Saturnian atmosphere lies elsewhere. The high speed of rotation of the planet around its own axis and the presence of a huge amount of hydrogen in the atmosphere causes the gas shell to separate into stripes. The clouds are also mostly composed of molecular hydrogen mixed with methane and helium. The planet's high rotation rate contributes to the formation of stripes that appear thinner in the polar regions and widen significantly as they approach the planet's equator.

Scientists believe that the presence of stripes in the Saturnian atmosphere indicates a high speed of movement of gas masses. This planet has the strongest winds in the entire solar system. According to data obtained from Cassini, the wind speed in Saturn's atmosphere reaches 1800 km/h.

The rings of Saturn and its moons

The most remarkable object in terms of studying the sixth planet of the solar system is its rings. Saturn's moons are no less interesting due to their enormous size and the presence of a solid surface.

The rings of the gas giant are a huge accumulation of space debris that has accumulated in the regions of Saturn over many billions of years. Ice and rocky fragments of cosmic matter form 7 large rings of varying widths, separated by 4 slits. All the rings of Saturn are designated in Latin letters: A, B, C, D, E, F and G. The gaps have the following names:

Maxwell's gap;
chelle Cassini;
Enkea gap;
Killer's gap.

Due to the presence of a huge amount of cosmic ice in the structure of the rings, these formations are clearly visible through a powerful telescope. Armed with telescopes with a Go-To mount, only the two largest rings of Saturn can be observed from Earth.

As for the satellites of Saturn, this gas giant has no competitors among the currently known celestial bodies. Officially, the planet has 62 satellites, among which the largest objects stand out. The second largest natural satellite in the solar system, Titan, which is larger than the planet Mercury, has a diameter of 5150 km. and exceeds Mercury in size. Unlike its host, Titan has a dense atmosphere consisting of nitrogen.

However, it is not Titan that interests scientists today. Saturn's sixth largest satellite, Enceladus, turned out to be a celestial body with traces of water found on its surface. This fact was first discovered thanks to images from the Hubble telescope and was confirmed as a result of the flight of the Cassini space probe. Fountaining geysers, vast areas of surface covered in a layer of ice, have been discovered on Enceladus. The presence of water in the geological structure of this satellite leads scientists to believe that the solar system may have other forms of life.

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One of the most beautiful astronomical objects to observe is undoubtedly the ringed planet Saturn. It’s hard to disagree with this statement if you managed to look at the ringed giant at least once through a telescope lens. However, this object of the solar system is interesting not only from an aesthetic point of view.

Why does the sixth planet from the Sun have a system of rings, and why did it get such a bright attribute? Astrophysicists and astronomers are still trying to answer these and many questions.

Brief characteristics of the planet Saturn

Like other gas giants of our near space, Saturn is of interest to the scientific community. The distance from Earth to it varies in the range of 1.20-1.66 billion kilometers. In order to overcome this huge and long path, spacecraft launched from our planet will need a little more than two years. The newest automatic probe, New Horizons, took two years and four months to reach the sixth planet. It should be taken into account that the movement of the planet around the Sun is similar to the orbital movement of the Earth. In other words, Saturn's orbit is shaped like a perfect ellipse. It has the third highest orbital eccentricity, after Mercury and Mars. The distance from the Sun at perihelion is 1,353,572,956 km, while at aphelion the gas giant moves away slightly, being at a distance of 1,513,325,783 km.

Even at such a significant distance from the central star, the sixth planet behaves quite quickly, rotating around its own axis at a tremendous speed of 9.69 km/s. Saturn's rotation period is 10 hours and 39 minutes. According to this indicator, it is second only to Jupiter. Such a high rotation rate causes the planet to appear flattened from the poles. Visually, Saturn resembles a top spinning at stunning speeds, rushing through space at a speed of 9.89 km/s, completing a full revolution around the Sun in almost 30 Earth years. Since Saturn was discovered by Galileo in 1610, the celestial body has orbited the main star of the solar system only 13 times.

The planet appears in the night sky as a fairly bright point, the apparent magnitude of which varies in the range from +1.47 to −0.24. Saturn's rings, which have a high albedo, are especially visible.

The location of Saturn in space is also curious. The axis of rotation of this planet has almost the same inclination to the ecliptic axis as that of the Earth. In this regard, the gas giant has seasons.

Saturn is not the largest planet in the solar system, but only the second largest celestial object in our immediate space after Jupiter. The average radius of the planet is 58,232 km, versus 69,911 km. at Jupiter. In this case, the polar diameter of the planet is less than the equatorial value. The planet's mass is 5.6846·10²⁶ kg, which is 96 times the mass of the Earth.

The closest planets to Saturn are its brothers in the planetary group - Jupiter and Uranus. The first is classified as a gas giant, while Uranus is classified as an ice giant. The two gas giants Jupiter and Saturn are characterized by enormous mass combined with low density. This is due to the fact that both planets are giant spherical clumps of liquefied gas. The density of Saturn is 0.687 g/cm³, inferior in this indicator to all the planets of the Solar System.

For comparison, the density of the terrestrial planets Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury is 3.94 g/cm³, 5.515 g/cm³, 5.25 g/cm³ and 5.42 g/cm³, respectively.

Description and composition of Saturn's atmosphere

The surface of a planet is a relative concept; the sixth planet does not have a solid surface. It is likely that the surface is the bottom of a hydrogen-helium ocean, where, under the influence of monstrous pressure, the gas mixture turns into a semi-liquid and liquid state. At the moment, there are no technical means to explore the surface of the planet, so all assumptions about the structure of the gas giant look purely theoretical. The object of study is the atmosphere of Saturn, which envelops the planet in a thick blanket.

The air envelope of the planet mainly consists of hydrogen. Hydrogen and helium are the chemical elements that keep the atmosphere in constant motion. This is evidenced by large cloud formations consisting of ammonia. Due to the fact that the air-gas mixture contains tiny particles of sulfur, Saturn from the outside has an orange color. The zone of continuous clouds begins at the lower boundary of the troposphere - at an altitude of 100 km. from the imaginary surface of the planet. Temperatures in this area range from 200-250⁰ Celsius below zero.

More accurate data on the composition of the atmosphere is as follows:

hydrogen 96%;
helium 3%;
methane is only 0.4%;
ammonia accounts for 0.01%;
molecular hydrogen 0.01%;
0.0007% is ethane.

In terms of its density and massiveness, the clouds on Saturn look more powerful than on Jupiter. In the lower part of the atmosphere, the main components of Saturnian clouds are ammonium hydrosulfite or water, in various variations. The presence of water vapor in the lower parts of Saturn's atmosphere, at altitudes less than 100 km, is also allowed by the temperature, which in this area is within absolute zero. Atmospheric pressure in the lower parts of the atmosphere is 140 kPa. As you approach the surface of a celestial body, the temperature and pressure begin to increase. Gaseous compounds are transformed, forming new forms. Due to high pressure, hydrogen takes on a semi-liquid state. The estimated average temperature on the surface of the hydrogen-helium ocean is 143K.

This state of the air-gas shell is the reason that Saturn is the only planet in the Solar System that gives off more heat to the surrounding outer space than it receives from our Sun.

Saturn, located at a distance of one and a half billion kilometers from the Sun, receives 100 times less solar heat than the Earth.

The Saturn stove is explained by the operation of the Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism. As the temperature drops, the pressure in the layers of the planet's atmosphere also decreases. The celestial body involuntarily begins to contract, converting the potential energy of compression into heat. Another hypothesis to explain Saturn's intense heat generation is a chemical reaction. As a result of convection in the layers of the atmosphere, condensation of helium molecules occurs in layers of hydrogen, accompanied by the release of heat.

Dense cloud masses and temperature differences in the layers of the atmosphere contribute to the fact that Saturn is one of the windiest regions of the solar system. Storms and hurricanes here are an order of magnitude stronger and more powerful than on Jupiter. The air flow speed in some cases reaches colossal values of 1800 km/h. Moreover, Saturnian storms form rapidly. The birth of a hurricane on the surface of the planet can be traced visually by observing Saturn through a telescope for several hours. However, following the rapid emergence, a long period of violence of the cosmic elements begins.

The structure of the planet and description of the core

With increasing temperature and pressure, hydrogen gradually transforms into a liquid state. At approximately a depth of 20-30 thousand km, the pressure is 300 GPa. Under such conditions, hydrogen begins to metallize. As we go deeper into the planet's interior, the proportion of oxide compounds with hydrogen begins to increase. Metallic hydrogen makes up the outer shell of the core. This state of hydrogen contributes to the emergence of high-intensity electric currents, forming a strong magnetic field.

Unlike the outer layers of Saturn, the inner part of the core is a massive formation with a diameter of 25 thousand kilometers, consisting of compounds of silicon and metals. Presumably in this area temperatures reach 11 thousand degrees Celsius. The mass of the core varies in the range of 9-22 times the mass of our planet.

Saturn's satellite system and rings

Saturn has 62 satellites, most of which have a solid surface and even have their own atmosphere. By their size, some of them can claim to be a planet. Just look at the size of Titan, which is one of the largest satellites of the solar system and larger than the planet Mercury. This celestial body orbiting Saturn has a diameter of 5150 km. The satellite has its own atmosphere, which in its composition is very similar to the air envelope of our planet at the early stage of formation.

Scientists believe that Saturn has the most developed system of satellites in the entire solar system. According to information received from the Cassini automatic interplanetary station, Saturn is perhaps the only place in the solar system where liquid water can exist on its satellites. To date, only some of the satellites of the ringed giant have been studied, but even the information that is available gives every reason to consider this most distant part of near space suitable for the existence of certain forms of life. In this regard, the fifth satellite, Enceladus, is of great interest to astrophysicists.

The main decoration of the planet, of course, are its rings. It is customary to distinguish four main rings in the system, correspondingly named A, B, C and D. The width of the largest ring B is 25,500 km. The rings are separated by gaps, among which the largest is the Cassini division, separating rings A and B. In terms of their composition, the Saturnian rings are accumulations of small and large particles of water ice. Due to their icy structure, Saturn's halos have a high albedo and are therefore clearly visible through a telescope.

Finally

Advances in science and technology over the past 30 years have allowed scientists to more intensively conduct research on a distant planet using technical means. Following the first information obtained as a result of the flight of the American spacecraft Pioneer 11, which first flew near the gas giant in 1979, Saturn was taken seriously.

The Pioneer mission was continued in the early 1980s by two Voyagers, the first and the second. The emphasis in the research was on the satellites of Saturn. In 1997, earthlings for the first time received a sufficient amount of information about Saturn and the system of this planet thanks to the Cassini-Huygens mission. The flight program included the planned landing of the Huygens probe on the surface of Titan, which was successfully carried out on January 14, 2005.