Saturn in Bulk: Its Surface & Atmosphere

1. Saturn
Discovering Saturn:
“The Real Lord of the Rings”
Prepared by :
Kristine Ann B. de Jesus

2. Basic Facts
• 6th Planet from the Sun
• 2nd Largest Planet in the Solar
System
• 7 thin, flat rings
• 62 Moons

3. Saturn the Name
• Roman god of agriculture and
harvest
• Father of Ceres, Jupiter, Pluto, and
Neptune
• Ruled during the Golden Age of
Men
• Saturn represents limits of control
as it was thought to be the limit of
the Solar System

4. Ancient Observations
• Farthest planet prehistoric astronomers knew
(Distance from the sun: 9.5 times as far as Earth)
(1 Solar Revolution: 29.5 earth years)
• Used in mythology
• It was the planet that can be seen by Earth with
the naked eye, but the rings cannot.

5. Discovery
• Galileo discovered rings 1610, though
believed they were moons on either side
• Christian Huygens first coined “Rings” 1665

6. Where is Saturn
Located?
• It orbits the Sun at a distance of
about 1.4 billion km (870 million
mi). Saturn is about 9.5 times as
far from the Sun as the Earth.
• Saturn is almost twice as far from
the Sun as is Jupiter, the fifth
planet in the Solar System.

7. How Big is Saturn?
• 2nd largest planet in the
Solar System
• 95 Earth masses
• “Gas Giant” along with
Jupiter, Uranus and
Neptune
• Diameter 120,540km
(10x Earth)

11. If Saturn is so much more massive
than Earth, Why is it said that Saturn
could float in water?
• Lowest density of all the planets
• 1/10 the density of Earth
• 2/3 dense as water
• Saturn would float in water!

12. WHAT IS SATURN MADE OF?
• Primarily a ball of gas with no
solid surface.
• 94% Hydrogen, 6% Helium,
small amounts of methane
(CH4) and ammonia (NH3)
• Detailed analysis of Saturn’s
gravitational field leads to
astronomers to believe that
the deepest interior of Saturn
must consist of a molten rock
core. (same size as Earth but
more massive)

15. Saturn’s Surface
• Saturn is a giant ball of gas
• Believed to have no solid surface
• Inner core of iron and rocky material
• Outer core of ammonia, methane, and
water
• Liquid metallic hydrogen surrounds outer
core
• Hydrogen and helium in a viscous form

16. Saturn’s Atmosphere
• The surface and atmosphere
merge (hydrogen and
helium)
• Dense clouds cover Saturn
• Difference in temperature
and altitude cause patterns
and color differences in
cloud tops
• Hexagon clouds at North
Pole

18. Saturn’s Orbit
• Aphelion ~ 10.1 AU ; Perihelion ~ 9.0 AU
• Period of Orbit – 29.46 Earth years
• Axis tilt of 27 degrees
• Eccentricity of .056
• Rotation is 2nd fastest of known planets
• Saturn rotates ~ 10 hours 39 minutes

20. How Long is a Year on Saturn?
• It takes 29.5 Earth days to travel once around
the sun. So, 1 Saturn year is about 30 Earth
Years.

21. Shape of Saturn
• Rapid rotation causes the planet to bulge
• Oblate spheroid – flattened at poles and
bulges at equator
• Rings

22. Why isn’t Saturn the same color as
Jupiter?
Saturn: World of white
and pastel yellow cloud
layers
Jupiter: Bright
yellows, oranges, and
reds in exotic swirls
and storms
 Near the top of the
atmosphere, ammonia
becomes cold enough
to crystallize into
ice particle cloud.
But Saturn is colder
than Jupiter, so the
colorful ammonia
cloud are deeper in
the atmosphere.

24. Saturn’s Rings
• Discovered by Galileo (1600s)
• Rings tilt at same angle as
equator
• ~20m thick
• 93% water ice composition, 7%
amorphous carbon
• 7 rings made up of thousands of
ringlets, made up of billions of
ice particles
• Particles range in size from dust
to a car

26. 2 Main Ring Theories
• Theory 1
• Remnants of destroyed moon of Saturn
• Theory 2
• Rings left over from original nebular material that
formed Saturn
• Some ice comes from the moon Enceladus’ ice
volcanoes

27. Temperature
• Tilt of axis causes seasons on
Saturn
• Each season = 7.5 Earth
years (Saturn takes 29x
longer than Earth to revolve)
• Top of clouds is -175 degrees
C (-285 F)
• Below clouds is hot – planet
gives off 2.5x the heat it
receives from the Sun

28. Moons
• 62 Moons
• Largest, Titan (diameter 5,150km) is larger
than Mercury and Pluto and contains an
atmosphere

29. SPACEEXPLORATIONS
1.Pioneer 11 in 1979
2.Voyagers 1
3.Voyagers 2 (1981-1982)
4.Cassini-Huygens in 2004-“1st
Spacecraft to land on a moon
other than Earth’s moon.”

30. PIONEER 1

31. VOYAGER 1 & 2