The Solar System #7: Saturn
Saturn is like the stereotypical middle child of the Solar System. It’s constantly living in Jupiter’s shadow.
Like, it’s the second largest planet in the solar system and if it weren’t for Jupiter crapping all over the size record, we’d all be like “whoa! That’s a big planet!”
And we’d all be like “dude, 62 moons is an unnecessary number of moons” if it weren’t for Jupiter and its 67. And if that weren’t bad enough, Titan would be an impressively large moon if it weren’t for the giant one orbiting Jupiter.
I kind of feel bad for it.
At least Saturn has its rings. Every other gas giant in our system has them but none are as impressive or as extensive as Saturn’s. If you put Saturn and its rings in between the Earth and the moon (without killing us all in a horrible, horrible way), we’d be able to touch the outermost ring.
The rings aren’t flat either. Recent images from spacecraft in the area show these sort of icebergs; giant rocks about a kilometre across that protrude up above and below the rings. There are clumps in and amongst the particles as well. Basically, the rocks in the rings are CONSTANTLY crashing into each other, not orbiting in a nice, orderly fashion like we thought.
The recent Cassini probe (named after the guy who discovered the rings had divisions) also managed to capture some truly incredible images when it basically caught a Saturn eclipse. Scientists found a bunch of new rings PLUS discovered a few of Saturn’s smaller moons had rings!
The rings themselves won’t last forever. Scientists think they’re being very slowly dragged towards the planet - eventually the rings will be eaten up by the gas giant.
When Cassini went hurtling towards Saturn, going out in a blaze of glory, it sent back a few photos of weird stuff on the Surface. Like, Saturn has a hexagonal storm at the north pole and no one knows why!
Saturn is also super flat - it spins SO FAST (a day lasts for 10 hours) it kind of bulges out at the centre. So it’s a giant pancake with rings and a hexagonal jet stream storm… awesome!
Cassini uncovered a lot of interesting info about some of the moons. Enceladus and Titan both have liquid water under their icy surfaces! Enceladus in particular had organic material and hydrothermal vents! It’s entirely possible that there might be conditions available for life.
Plus as we know it rains farts on Titan so…
There are some weird moons around Saturn as well - like the ravioli moon Pan and the temperature pacmen on Mimas and Tethys.
Pan is probably my favourite of the moons. Look at it! It’s so cute!
Tomorrow (giggles) Uranus
Science Space is a not-for-profit organisation at the University of Wollongong. The work presented here was written by me as a part of a larger project spear-headed by my colleague Amanda Kruger.
