![EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SATURN](https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/15256/879075/6219c7de678c0/EVERYTHING-YOU-NEED-TO-KNOW-ABOUTSATURN.jpg)
Saturn is our Solar System’s ringed wonder – a spectacular world encircled by planes of icy debris, giving it a unique appearance. But there’s a lot more to Saturn than just its rings; this enormous world is worth exploring both for its own complexity and the fascinating family of satellites that orbit it. As the most distant Solar System object easily seen with the naked eye, Saturn orbits at an average of 1.43 billion kilometres (887 million miles) from the Sun. Its slow orbit means that Saturn takes 29.5 years to make a full circuit through the constellations of the zodiac; it was this stately movement that led ancient stargazers to associate it with the father of Jupiter in Roman mythology.
Its distance makes it a challenging object for study, even in the era of giant telescopes. Most of what we know about the planet comes from the Voyager probe flybys in the 1980s and the Cassini mission that orbited between 2004 and 2017. Earth observations, coupled with close-up images from these explorers, have revealed that what often appears to be a placid orb of creamy cloud is in fact a surprisingly active world.
Internally, Saturn is a gas giant like Jupiter, a huge ball dominated by the lightweight elements hydrogen and helium. It owes its very different outward appearance to a substantially lower mass – Saturn weighs as much as 95 Earths, but this is less than a third of Jupiter. The weaker gravity allows Saturn’s upper layers to billow outwards, giving it the lowest average density of any world in the Solar System – about two-thirds that of water.
Esta historia es de la edición Issue 127 de All About Space.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición Issue 127 de All About Space.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
!["We knew that this would be a historic comet"](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15256/1373895/J0Ir3DF_J1689222545336/crp_WE-KNEW-THAT-THIS-WOULD-BE-A-HISTORIC-COMET.jpg)
"We knew that this would be a historic comet"
Astronomer David Levy was immortalised for his co-discovery of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 – its impact with Jupiter 29 years ago held the world in awe
![CELESTRON STARSENSE EXPLORER DX 102AZ](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15256/1404095/9W6-RaxLw1691734139571/CELESTRON-STARSENSE-EXPLORER-DX-102AZ.jpg)
CELESTRON STARSENSE EXPLORER DX 102AZ
Innovative technology provides the simplest and quickest solution yet to finding objects to observe, and this instrument will be very popular with beginners
![MOON TOUR - COPERNICUS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15256/1404095/Nh_FbuTQ-1691734037084/MOON-TOUR-COPERNICUS.jpg)
MOON TOUR - COPERNICUS
Get up close to the ‘Monarch of the Moon’
![A HUNGRY BLACK HOLE 'SWITCHES ON' AS ASTRONOMERS WATCH IN SURPRISE](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15256/1404095/uwEzMFoAu1691733825533/A-HUNGRY-BLACK-HOLE-SWITCHES-ON-AS-ASTRONOMERS-WATCH-IN-SURPRISE.jpg)
A HUNGRY BLACK HOLE 'SWITCHES ON' AS ASTRONOMERS WATCH IN SURPRISE
J221951 is one of the most extreme examples yet
![MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE - WHY DOES JUPITER CHANGE COLOUR?](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15256/1404095/PDJYII2fn1691733484726/MYSTERIES-OF-THE-UNIVERSE-WHY-DOES-JUPITER-CHANGE-COLOUR.jpg)
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE - WHY DOES JUPITER CHANGE COLOUR?
For years, scientists have tried to work out why Jupiter’s bands frequently move and change colour. Now they believe they’ve found the answer
![MARS HELICOPTER PHONES HOME AFTER A 63-DAY SILENCE](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15256/1404095/MVLXt4M7T1691733392016/MARS-HELICOPTER-PHONES-HOME-AFTER-A-63DAY-SILENCE.jpg)
MARS HELICOPTER PHONES HOME AFTER A 63-DAY SILENCE
Rugged terrain had kept Ingenuity from communicating with its robotic partner, the Perseverance rover
![SIX OF THE BEST SPACE PRANKS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15256/1404095/LEnJDVRyL1691733094104/SIX-OF-THE-BEST-SPACE-PRANKS.jpg)
SIX OF THE BEST SPACE PRANKS
It turns out that the sky isn’t the limit when it comes to a good old-fashioned practical joke
![CLIMATES CHANGE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15256/1404095/ljdL__odK1691732627379/CLIMATES-CHANGE-IN-THE-SOLAR-SYSTEM.jpg)
CLIMATES CHANGE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Alongside Earth, our planetary neighbourhood is changing. But not for the better…
![TIME APPEARED TO MOVE FIVE TIMES SLOWER IN THE FIRST BILLION YEARS AFTER THE BIG BANG](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15256/1404095/in1YHpDRV1691732364796/TIME-APPEARED-TO-MOVE-FIVE-TIMES-SLOWER-IN-THE-FIRST-BILLION-YEARS-AFTER-THE-BIG-BANG.jpg)
TIME APPEARED TO MOVE FIVE TIMES SLOWER IN THE FIRST BILLION YEARS AFTER THE BIG BANG
Time dilation, brought about by the relativistic expansion of space, has resulted in the observed slowing of ‘clocks’ in the early universe
![WHAT CAN WE DO WITH A CAPTURED ASTEROID?](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15256/1404095/V5ibLPxcW1691732121606/WHAT-CAN-WE-DO-WITH-A-CAPTURED-ASTEROID.jpg)
WHAT CAN WE DO WITH A CAPTURED ASTEROID?
Asteroids could provide us with rare resources