Saturn :
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Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun in our Solar System. It is the second-largest planet in our Solar System (Jupiter is the largest) and is made mostly of hydrogen and helium gas (it is a gas giant planet). Saturn has beautiful rings. Although Saturn is visible without using a telescope , a low-power telescope is needed to see its rings. The rings were first observed by Galileo in the 17th century. Saturn's bright rings are made of ice chunks (and some rocks) that range in size from the size of a fingernail to the size of a car . Although the rings are extremely wide (almost 185,000 miles = 300,000 km in diameter), they are very thin (about 0.6 miles = 1 km thick).
Saturn is about 74,898 miles = 120,536 km in diameter (at the equator at the cloud tops). This is about 9.4 times the diameter of the Earth. 764 Earths could fit inside a hollowed-out Saturn.
Saturn's mass is about 5.69 x 10 26 kg. Although this is 95 times the mass of the Earth, the gravity on Saturn is only 1.08 times the gravity on Earth. This is because Saturn is such a large planet (and the gravitational force a planet exerts upon an object at the planet's surface is proportional to its mass and to the inverse of its radius squared). A 100 pound person would only weigh 108 pounds on Saturn. Saturn is the only planet in our Solar System that is less dense than water. Saturn would float if there were a body of water large enough!
Each day on Saturn takes 10.2 Earth hours. A year on Saturn takes 29.46 Earth years; it takes 29.46 Earth years for Saturn to orbit the Sun once.
Saturn is the most oblate (flattened) planet in our Solar System. It has a equatorial diameter of 74,898 miles = 120,536 km (at the cloud tops) and a polar diameter of 67,560 miles =108,728 km. This is a difference of almost 10%. Saturn's flattened shape is probably caused by its fast rotation and its gaseous composition. Saturn has many moons . This planet was named for the Roman god of agriculture.
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