Mean distance from Sun: 9.54 AU = 1,427,000,000 KM
Diameter: 120,000 KM
Mass: 95.15 Earths
Density: 0.7 grams / cubic centimeter
Surface temperature: -274 F
Orbital period: 29 years, 168 days
Saturn is perhaps the best known astronomical object by picture.
Its beauty in even small telescopes is breathtaking, and larger
scopes reveal details in the delicate ring structure and colored
bands in the outer layers of the atmosphere. The rings consist
of billions of particles (probably water and methane ice) ranging
from a few centimeters to a few meters in diameter. There are
three major ring systems, separated by the Cassini division (outer)
and the Encke division (inner).
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