Space is an intriguing and mysterious place that humans have only explored a tiny portion of. Although planet Earth can feel massive to us, it’s actually one of the smallest planets in the solar system. It’s hard to believe that most of the planets around us are many times bigger than our home planet. We live in a system of eight planets, all bound to the Sun and orbiting around it.
These eight planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus. However, there are a number of other celestial objects in the solar system. There are several
dwarf planets, asteroids, stars, and moons. The biggest planet in the solar system by far is Jupiter. It is 11 times bigger than the Earth, but compared to the Sun, it’s still quite small. The Sun is over 10 times larger than Jupiter!One of the most interesting planets and most recognizable is the second-largest, Saturn. Saturn is well known for the iconic rings around it and is about 9.5 times larger than Earth. There is a storm on Saturn that is about as big as our entire planet. Although each planet has a ring of debris and other materials orbiting around it, Saturn’s rings are the only concretely visible rings. Saturn is considered a gas giant just like Uranus, Neptune, and Jupiter. It has many interesting characteristics that are totally unique compared to all the other planets. Keep reading to find out about the top 10 facts you should know about Saturn.
10It’s The Second Largest Planet in Our System
The solar system that Earth is a part of includes eight planets, most of which are much bigger than our relatively small home planet. The biggest planet in the solar system is Jupiter, and Saturn comes in second with a radius of 58,232 kilometers. If you walked around the surface of the planet at the equator, you would walk a total of 365,882 kilometers. However, Saturn is also one of the lowest density planets. It’s even less dense than water and has essentially no solid ground like Earth. Saturn does weigh a lot more than Earth, but this difference is one of the smallest because of Saturn’s low density.
Gas giants are categorically much larger than terrestrial and rocky planets like Earth and other smaller planets in our solar system. The surface of Saturn is even more massive than you may think- the total amount of square kilometers comes to a whopping 42.7 billion. Plus, the volume of the planet is 827.13 trillion cubed kilometers. In every way, Saturn is staggeringly larger than Earth. Hundreds of our planet could fit inside Saturn; it’s just that big!
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun, much further and much colder than the Earth because of this distance. While it takes sunlight only about eight minutes to reach us here on Earth, the journey of sunlight lasts over 80 minutes to get to Saturn. The planet also has a magnetic field much stronger than Earth’s but less than Jupiter’s. The planet and its rings are surrounded by a certain area of space that is affected by the field.
9Ancient Greek and Roman Mythology Used Saturn
8Saturn Is the Flattest Planet in Our System
7Saturn Is Made of Hydrogen
6Saturn’s Rings Are Made of Ice
5Saturn Has 150 Moons
4Saturn Has Had Four Visitors from Earth
3Saturn Is Visible to The Naked Eye
2Saturn Has Unbelievably Fast Winds
1Saturn Is a Gas Giant
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