Saturn

Saturn (lat.: Saturnus), roman god of agriculture. Over the time Saturn was identified with the greek god Kronos.

Saturn is the sixth largest planet in the solar system counted from the sun. Its diameter at the aequator is approx. 120’000km and he is therefore the second largest planet in the solar system. The most prominent feature of Saturn is its ring system.

Saturns main constituents are hydrogen and helium. Saturn could retain these light elements because of the large distance from the sun (9.5 a.u. on average). Saturns density is lower than water, only approx. 0.68 g/cm3.

There are more than 30 known moons orbiting Saturn. Th largest one, Titan, has a dense opaque athmosphere. Titan is the destination of the Huygens-Lander on board of the Cassini orbiter.

The smaller moon Iapetus is used as main theme for this website.