Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun, is known for its beautiful ring system made of billions of pieces of ice and rock that are so close together they seem to form a solid mass when seen from Earth.
Like Jupiter, Saturn is a giant ball of gases and liquids with a very small core made of rock and ice. Its atmosphere is divided into belts and zones that are filled with storms, strong winds and swirling clouds that are so thick they make Saturn appear hazy at times. Because it is so much farther away from the Sun, Saturn receives far less heat and light than the Earth does. It is even colder than Jupiter, in fact, many of its eighteen moons are thought to be made of ice rock and ice. Saturn takes nearly thirty Earth Years to orbit the Sun which means that each of its seasons (which most planets probably have) lasts about thirty times longer than those on Earth. Did you know? Saturn is huge, but its mass (the materials of which it is made) is so loosely packed that it could float in an ocean if there were one big enough t hold it..
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The Rings of Saturn
Saturn's beautiful rings have been described in many different ways and have fascinated astronomers for century's. Where idid these rings come from"? It is thought they were made by moons that strayed too close to Saturn and were ripped apart and held in orbit by Saturn's powerful gravity. Another theory or idea is that they hare made of particles of a would be moon or moons that never formed.
There are several main rings, each made of thousands of narrower rings, composed of billions of bits of rock, ice and dust. Some rings are thicker and brighter than others and can even seen from earth with just binoculars. They are the A, B and C rings.
The outermost viable ring, the F ring, is formed into an unusual braided pattern believed to be caused by the gravitational pull of two of Saturn's moons one on the inside of the ring, and one on the outside of it. These two moons act as "shepherds" to the ring particles.
Close up views sent to earth by the Voyager space probe in the early 1980's indicate the bright rings are extremely thin, about the width of a foot ball field.
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