Saturn

Saturn


Mean distance from Sun: 9.54 Astronomical Units
1,425,600,000 km
Diameter: 120,000 km
Mass: 95.15 Earths
Density: 0.7 grams per cubic centimeter
Surface temperature: -274 F
Orbital period: 29 years, 168 days
Rotational period: 10 hours, 40 minutes

Saturn is perhaps the best known astronomical object by picture. Its beauty in even small telescopes is breathtaking, and larger scopes reveal details in the delicate ring structure and colored bands in the outer layers of the atmosphere. The rings consist of billions of particles (probably water and methane ice) ranging from a few centimeters to a few meters in diameter. There are three major ring systems, separated by the Cassini division (outer) and the Encke division (inner).