Saturn

Saturn: The Great Ringed Planet

Saturn is the first object I ever viewed through a telescope and a big part of the reason that I love astronomy. Saturn is often the first target for many first time telescope users.  Even through a good pair of astronomy binoculars the rings of Saturn can be seen.

Saturn, like the other gas giants of the solar system, is composed mostly of hydrogen and helium.  Like Jupiter, Saturn also has cloud bands that are quite spectacular to view.  Since Saturn is mostly yellowish in color, it's more difficult to see the banding than it is with Jupiter.  Jupiter has many different colors of cloud bands. When you think of a ringed planet, Saturn is usually the first planet that comes to mind, however, all of the gas giants have rings.  None of them are as massive or noticeable as those of Saturn, but they are still spectacular on their own.

The rings of Saturn are made up of small pieces of rock, ice, and dust.  The majority of it being water ice. The ring material ranges in size from under a centimeter up to the size of a house.  If the rings of Saturn were viewed edge on, they would barely be noticeable because they are so thin.  There are many gaps in the ring system known as divisions.  The largest of which is the Cassini Division.  This division can easily be seen through a telescope.  

Saturn also has many moons.  In fact, it has the most moons of any planet in the solar system.  Saturn is its own mini solar system!  The current count is 62 but more are always being discovered.  The moon sizes range from just a few miles in diameter to almost the size of Mars!  Titan is the largest moon of Saturn and is the second largest moon in the solar system, rivaled only by Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter.  There are even moons found in the rings of Saturn.  These moons help shape the ring system.  Many of the moons have their own interesting facts that I will talk about in a future post.

There is currently a robotic visitor at Saturn.  It has been an ongoing mission for nearly 10 years, starting in June of 2004.  It has been studying the ring system, the moons, and many different features of Saturn itself. Some of these features include the cloud bands, north and south poles, and the magnetosphere.  Cassini also had a craft named Huygens that went along on the mission.  Huygens mission was to separate from Cassini, fly through the atmosphere of Titan, and land on the moon.  It successfully completed it's mission in 2005.  Several incredible pictures have been taken with Cassini's on-board camera as well.  These pictures can be found at the the official Cassini mission website by clicking here.

In our current night sky, Saturn can be seen towards the Southeast after the Sun sets.  Saturn was at opposition (opposite of the Sun from the perspective of Earth) on May 10th. It will be the yellow "star" in the Southeast that does not twinkle.  It won't appear any brighter than the nearby stars, so be sure to look closely for it!