Our Solar System
Saturn's Surface
Saturn, as a great gas giant, has no conventional surface. It is a fluid object—the light elements that compose it do not condense in the frigidity of space. Rather than an explicit separation between the planet’s surface and the surrounding atmosphere, Saturn’s surface is its atmosphere; Astronomers consider Saturn to begin where the atmospheric pressure exceeds one bar. When viewed from Earth, Saturn appears oblate, or with flattened poles. Due to its rapid rotation and fluid state, the equatorial and polar diameters differ by 10 percent (120,536 km and 108,728 km, respectively). Saturn is the most oblate of all the Jovian planets, which are themselves more oblate than their terrestrial counterparts.
Saturn's atmosphere is rather like Jupiter's except that it is colder and the cloud layers are thicker. The chracteristic coloured bands which are very visible on Jupiter are fainter on Saturn, and have a tendancy to become wider in the equatorial regions. Like Jupiter, it also seems to have big oval-shaped storms raging in its atmosphere, though none on the scale of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. In addition to the Hydrogen and Helium which make up the bulk of the ingredients in Saturn's atmosphere, there are also traces of water, methane and ammonia present.
The core of Saturn is also thought to be very similar to that of Jupiter, small and rocky, and surrounded by a layer of liquid metallic Hydrogen beneath another layer of molecular Hydrogen. There are also traces of various ices present.
The temperature of Saturn's core is thought to be at around 12,000°K, and actually radiates more energy than it recieves from the Sun. This is most likely due to the same process of gravitational compression present in Jupiter, which provides the planet with heat. Around the equator, winds sweep about at an impressive 1,800 km/h, over four times as fast as the fastest winds on Earth. Saturn is the least dense of all the planets, with its mass so spread out that on average it is less dense than water.
Saturn's atmosphere is rather like Jupiter's except that it is colder and the cloud layers are thicker. The chracteristic coloured bands which are very visible on Jupiter are fainter on Saturn, and have a tendancy to become wider in the equatorial regions. Like Jupiter, it also seems to have big oval-shaped storms raging in its atmosphere, though none on the scale of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. In addition to the Hydrogen and Helium which make up the bulk of the ingredients in Saturn's atmosphere, there are also traces of water, methane and ammonia present.
The core of Saturn is also thought to be very similar to that of Jupiter, small and rocky, and surrounded by a layer of liquid metallic Hydrogen beneath another layer of molecular Hydrogen. There are also traces of various ices present.
The temperature of Saturn's core is thought to be at around 12,000°K, and actually radiates more energy than it recieves from the Sun. This is most likely due to the same process of gravitational compression present in Jupiter, which provides the planet with heat. Around the equator, winds sweep about at an impressive 1,800 km/h, over four times as fast as the fastest winds on Earth. Saturn is the least dense of all the planets, with its mass so spread out that on average it is less dense than water.
