Saturn is the only planet in the Solar System less dense than water, by about 30 percent, with a specific density of 0.69. It is a gas giant composed predominantly of hydrogen and helium and lacks a definite surface, so its great size is not matched by proportional mass.
How many moons does Saturn have and which is the largest?
Saturn has 292 known moons, of which 63 have formal names, not counting the hundreds of moonlets in its rings. Titan is the largest, making up more than 90 percent of the mass orbiting Saturn and is the only moon in the Solar System with a substantial atmosphere.
What is the hexagon on Saturn's north pole?
Saturn's north pole hosts a persisting hexagonal wave pattern at about 78 degrees north, first noted in the Voyager images. Each side is about 14500 kilometers long, longer than Earth's diameter, and most scientists believe it is a standing wave in the atmosphere.
What are Saturn's rings made of?
Saturn's rings are composed predominantly of water ice, with trace tholin impurities and about 7 percent amorphous carbon. They extend from 6630 to 120700 kilometers from the equator but average only about 20 meters thick, with particles ranging from dust specks to 10 meters across.
How long does Saturn take to orbit the Sun?
Saturn orbits the Sun at a distance of about 1434 million kilometers with an orbital period of 29.45 years. It takes roughly 29.4 years for the planet to complete a full circuit of the ecliptic against the background constellations of the zodiac.
What spacecraft have visited Saturn?
Pioneer 11 made the first flyby of Saturn in September 1979, followed by Voyager 1 in November 1980 and Voyager 2 in August 1981. The Cassini-Huygens probe entered orbit on the 1st of July 2004 and ended its mission with the Grand Finale on the 15th of September 2017.
Could there be life on Saturn's moons?
Saturn's moon Enceladus is regarded as a potential habitat for microbial life, and a 2015 Cassini flyby through one of its plumes found most of the ingredients to sustain life forms that live by methanogenesis. Titan also hosts complex organic chemistry, and in 2013 scientists reported polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in its upper atmosphere as a possible precursor for life.