Saturn

Saturn is a gas giant within the Solar System, the second-largest after Jupiter. It is the sixth planet from the Sun, and known for its incredible ring system. Saturn also boasts the most moons out of any other planet in its system, at a staggering 146.

Geography

Like Jupiter, Saturn is primarily composed of gas and liquid, with a volume 1,321 times that of Earth. Also like Jupiter, Saturn's atmosphere is around 96% hydrogen and 3% helium (by volume), with trace amounts of other gases. This atmosphere gradually transitions to a thick layer of liquid hydrogen, a thinner layer of metallic hydrogen, and eventually, a rocky core similar in composition to Earth but more dense.
The planet has 95 times the mass of Earth, although, less dense than water. Like the rest of the planets in the Solar System, Saturn's rotation makes it an oblate spheroid. Saturn is the most oblate planet in the system, with its radius at the equator 10% larger than the radius at its poles. This also causes gravitational differences at its equator and poles, so much so that the surface gravity at its poles is less than that of Earth's.
Saturn's most famous feature is its incredible ring system, extending out to 74,000 miles from its equator. Despite being over 70,000 miles in width, these rings are only about 66 feet in thickness. These rings are mostly made of ice, with trace amounts of rock and dust. The particles that make up the rings are anywhere from specks of dust to only a couple dozen feet in diameter. Some of Saturn's moons, like Pandora and Prometheus, confine the rings into perfect lines and clear out openings within them. These moons that clear gaps and contain particles within planetary rings are known as shepherd moons.

Climate

Saturn's atmosphere consists of hydrogen and helium, with race amounts of several hydrocarbons. The upper clouds are composed of ammonia crystals, while the lower clouds are composed of mostly water. The atmosphere has a banded pattern like Jupiter's, although Saturn's are fainter and typically wider. Despite not being known for great storms, Saturn's wind speeds can reach over 1,000 mph, compared to the couple hundred of Jupiter's Great Red Spot.
Saturn also possesses a recurring/periodic storm known as the Great White Spot, which occurs every 30 standard years or so and is visible from Earth (with a telescope). These occur once every Saturnian year. Another noticeable feature of the gas giant is its persisting hexagonal cloud pattern at its north pole, with each of its six sides larger than Earth's diameter.

History

Saturn was known to prehistoric cultures, as early as Mesopotamia, the same as Jupiter. Exploration began a number of years after Jupiter's, in 1979 as the space probe Pioneer 11 made its flyby in September of 1979. This flyby studied both the planet and its moons, as well as its ring system. Numerous other probe flybys occured in the following decades. The first manned mission orbited Saturn on May 9th, 2016, with Kronos 2. Like Zeus 3, the manually pilotable spacecraft took off from a base on Mars, and largely orbited mere yards from the surface of its rings.
Post-Kronos, Saturn's exploration was focused on its many moons, as there is no walkable surface on the planet itself. In 2101, there is largely nothing left to explore, as a few of the biggest moons have whole cities on them, particularly Titan.

Designations

Classification	Planet
Type	Gas giant
Alternative names	Sol VI
Adjectives	Saturnian

Location Data

Star	Sun
Moons	Titan 145 others (146 total)
Star system	Solar System
Spiral Arm	Orion Arm
Galaxy	Milky Way

Orbit & Rotation

Rotation period	10.5433 hours 10h 32m 36s
Orbital period	29.4475 standard years 10,755.7 standard days

Atmosphere

Composition by volume

96% hydrogen 3% helium 1% trace gases