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Saturn

Sixth Planet of the Solar System

Proper NameSaturn
Orbital Period29.48 years
Distance from the SunSemi-Major Axis: 1,433,530,000 km (9.58 AU)
Perihelion: 1,352,540,000 km (9.04 AU)
Aphelion: 1,514,520,000 km (10.12 AU)
Eccentricity0.0565
Rotation Period10 hours, 39 minutes
Diameter120,537 km
Mean Surface Temperature134 K (-139°C)
MoonsAegaeon, Aegir, Albiorix, Alvaldi, Angrboda, Anthe, Atlas, Bebhionn, Beli, Bergelmir, Bestla, Calypso, Daphnis, Dione, Eggther, Enceladus, Epimetheus, Erriapus, Farbauti, Fenrir, Fornjot, Geirrod, Gerd, Greip, Gridr, Gunnlod, Hati, Helene, Hyperion, Hyrrokkin, Iapetus, Ijiraq, Janus, Jarnsaxa, Kari, Kiviuq, Loge, Methone, Mimas, Mundilfari, Narvi, Paaliaq, Pallene, Pan, Pandora, Phoebe, Polydeuces, Prometheus, Rhea, Siarnaq, Skathi, Skoll, Skrymir, Surtur, Suttungr, Tarqeq, Tarvos, Telesto, Tethys, Thiazzi, Thrymr, Titan, Ymir; many other small moons
Parent starThe Sun, yellow dwarf
Other planets in this systemMercury, terrestrial planet
Venus, terrestrial planet
Earth, terrestrial planet
Mars, terrestrial planet
Jupiter, gas giant
Uranus, ice giant
Neptune, ice giant
Numerous dwarf planets, asteroids and other bodies
NotesThe second largest planet of the Solar System, Saturn is about 83% the diameter of Jupiter, but its bright ring system extends out across a diameter of some 270,000 km, with other less prominent ring structures ranging up to 13 million km from the planet itself.

The sixth planet from the Sun, and the second largest in the Solar System after Jupiter. Saturn is distinguished by its unique extensive ring system.

Saturn, its rings and inner moons
Saturn, its rings and inner moons

A schematic chart of Saturn's ring system and the orbits of its inner moons. Moons shown off the main diagonal axis (Helene and Polydeuces, Telesto and Calypso) are Trojan moons, sharing the orbits of the larger moons Dione and Tethys, respectively. Janus and Epimetheus form a pair of co-orbital moons that follow very close orbital paths, and can occasionally exchange orbits with one another.

Saturn

A view of the planet Saturn, showing its famous, unmistakable rings.

Use the scrollbar on the right of this window to explore the moons of Saturn, shown to scale. (Values shown are mean distances from Saturn, though note that several of the planet's outer satellites have eccentric orbits).

A Saturnian cloudscape

A Saturnian cloudscape. This is a view of the outer layers of Saturn's atmosphere, with the rings visible in the sky.

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