Current Smart Quiz

Like Jupiter Saturn is mostly a ball of hydrogen and helium. The surface is classified as the point at which the atmospheric pressure equals.

10 Things You Probably Didn T Know About Planet Saturn Curiosmos

Saturn is a ball made up almost entirely of hydrogen and helium.

Surface features of saturn. Saturns rotation causes it to have the shape of an oblate spheroid. Its ring system consists of a number of ice chunks in which sizes can be compared to dust particles estimated to be 10 meters big. The pressure is very high that not only will freezing temperatures turn objects into solid ice but the high level of pressure will crush objects before it hits the surface.

It will not allow anyone to take a stroll on the planet. The rings we see are made of groups of tiny ringlets that surround Saturn. Theyre made of chunks of ice and rock.

Structure and Surface Saturn is a gas giant like Jupiter. Viewed from Earth Saturn has an overall hazy yellow-brown appearance. Saturn has a thick atmosphere.

These features form in relation to ghost craters impact craters that are filled and buried by volcanic deposits but whose outline. Ridge and trough systems unique to Mercury have been observed in MESSENGER imagery. Since the planet has no solid surface its diameter is measured at a level where the atmospheric pressure is 1 bar which is equal to the pressure at sea level on Earth.

One way Venus releases heat is by the formation of a large number of features called coronae circular patterns of fractures thought to form when hot material beneath the crust pushes up warping the surface. That is it is flattened at the poles and bulges at its equator. Considered as a gas giant it is known for having no surface but a rocky inner core with a layer composing of liquid metallic hydrogen.

Saturn Mean Orbital Elements J2000 Semimajor axis AU 953707032 Orbital eccentricity 005415060 Orbital inclination deg 248446 Longitude of ascending node deg 11371504 Longitude of perihelion deg 9243194 Mean Longitude deg 4994432 North Pole of. The planet Saturn has no real surface. It is made mostly of hydrogen and helium.

Saturn is a gas giant composed predominantly of hydrogen and helium. Measuring the rotation of Saturn is actually a more complicated job than you might think. Saturn is the solar systems second largest and second most massive planet after Jupiter.

The diameter at Saturns equator is about 74898 miles 120536 kilometers. Saturns surface is so dense that the gravity on it is particularly very weak and is only 91 compared to that of Earths. Its atmosphere bleeds into its surface with little distinction.

A feature that is most striking in the planet Saturn is its ring system. The surface of Saturn is made of hydrogen helium and a small amount of additional trace elements. Unlike Earth Venus shows no evidence of plate tectonics the movement of large pieces of crust a process that helps release interior heat.

Saturn seen from the vicinity of Earth thus always appears nearly fully illuminated. Saturn isnt the only planet to have rings but it definitely has the most beautiful ones. Saturn has a lovely set of seven main rings with spaces between them.

The density and temperature changes the deeper into the planet you go. Saturns surface Saturn is classified as a gas giant because it is almost completely made of gas. The surface that is seen through telescopes and in spacecraft images is actually a complex of cloud layers decorated by many small-scale features such as red brown and white spots bands eddies and vortices that vary over a fairly short time.

Visit NASA Space Place for more kid-friendly facts. The surface of Saturn is not solid but is composed almost entirely of gas making it impossible for any type of spacecraft to land on the planet. Thats because Saturn is just a ball of hydrogen and helium without any solid surface features that you.

Only deep space probes can provide sidelit and backlit views. Like Jupiter and most of the other planets Saturn has a regular orbit that is its motion around the Sun is prograde in the same direction that the Sun rotates and has a small eccentricity noncircularity and inclination to the. It lacks a definite surface though it may have a solid core.