The planet I have chosen is Saturn because I am intrigued by its many rings and its mythology. In Roman mythology Saturn is the God of agriculture. Saturn also is the root of the English word Saturday. Saturn has been known since prehistoric times. Galileo was the first to observe it with a telescope in 1610. He noted its odd appearance but was confused by it.
Saturn is the sixth planet in the solar system, and the second largest located between Jupiter and Uranus. Saturn is much farther away from the Sun than we are here on Earth. Its average distance from the sun is over 850 million miles, compared to Earth's which is 93 million miles. A year on Saturn, the amount of time it takes for this trip, is twenty-nine and one-half Earth years. A day on Saturn though is much shorter than one of our Earth days. .
Saturn's shape is visibly flattened at the poles and bulging at the equator, it's equatorial and polar diameters vary by almost 10% (120,536 km vs. 108,728 km).This is because of its rapid rotation and fluid state. Saturn is also the least dense of the Solar System's planets with a specific density of 0.7, significantly less than water. Saturn's upper atmosphere is less dense and its core is considerably denser than water. Saturn's diameter is 120,536 km (equatorial) its orbit from the sun is 1,429,400,000 km. And its mass is 5.68e26 kg. .
Saturn interior is similar to Jupiter's, having a rocky core at the center, a liquid metallic hydrogen layer above that and a molecular layer above that. Traces of various ices are also present. Saturn is about 75% hydrogen and 25 % helium with traces of water, ammonia, methane, and "rock". Saturn's interior is very hot, reaching 12000 K at the core, and it radiates more energy into space than it receives from the Sun. Saturn's rings are extraordinarily thin. They"re 250,000 km or more in diameter they"re less than one kilometer thick. There is very little material in the rings.
