Saturn and its Satellites

Saturn and its Satellites

By Bipul Neupane

Image assessed on 2nd June, 2014 : http://bbc.co.uk

Saturn and its Satellites by Bipul Neupane 2

Contents• Saturn• Where is Saturn?• What is Saturn Made of?• Saturn's weather• Rings• Cassini-Huygens Mission• Cassini's Interplanetary Trajectory• Cassini Mission Overview• Moons• References• External Links

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Image assessed on 2nd June, 2014 : http://planetfacts.org

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Saturn

• Saturn travels around the sun once every 29 and a half Earth years, this journey is called its orbit.

• A day on Saturn is 10 and a half hours long on Earth.

Saturn and its Satellites by Bipul Neupane

Image assessed on 2nd June, 2014 : http://www.solarviews.com

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Radius: 58,232 kmMass: 568.3E24 kg (95.16 Earth mass)Surface area: 42,700,000,000 km²Distance from Sun: 1,433,000,000 kmLength of day: 0d 10h 39m

Image assessed on 2nd June, 2014 : http://heritage.stsci.edu/gallery/gallery.html

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Where is Saturn??

• Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter.

Image assessed on 2nd June, 2014 : http://planetfacts.org

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What is Saturn made of??• Saturn’s outer layer is made

of hydrogen gas. In Saturn’s middle layer the hydrogen gas becomes liquid. The centre of Saturn is made of rock; Saturn’s rocky centre is about the same size as Earth.

Image assessed on 2nd June, 2014 : http://www.prenticehall.com7/2/2014

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Saturn’s weather• Saturn is a very stormy

planet. The winds can travel at 1170 km per hour. One of the large storms on Saturn is called the dragon storm. The dragon storm got its name from its shape. The dragon storm is a giant thunder storm. It produces lighting just like a storm on Earth.

Image assessed on 2nd June, 2014 : http://mappingignorance.org7/2/2014


Image assessed on 2nd June, 2014 : http://mappingignorance.org

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Rings

• Saturn has the largest and brightest system of rings in the whole solar system. The rings on Saturn are made of ice with some dust and rock.

• Is composed of 99.9 percent pure water ice with a smattering of impurities that may include tholins or silicates. Image assessed on 2nd June, 2014 : http://annesastronomynews.com

• There is still no consensus as to their mechanism of formation; some features of the rings suggest a relatively recent origin, but theoretical models indicate they are likely to have formed early in the Solar System's history.

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Image assessed on 2nd June, 2014 : http://spaceplace.nasa.gov

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Image assessed on 2nd June, 2014 : http://nineplanets.org

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• The Cassini-Huygens mission is a two part, joint venture with the European Space Agency. The mission consists of:– The Cassini orbiter– The Huygens probe

• The Cassini orbiter is NASA's portion of the mission and it carried the ESA’s Huygens probes to Titan.

• The probe was launched on October 15, 1997 and arrived for orbital insertion on July 1, 2004. The Huygens probe was released on December 24, 2004 and descended Titan's atmosphere and landed on January 14, 2005.


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1997-2001

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2002-2005

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2006-2009

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19Saturn and its Satellites by Bipul Neupane

2010-2014

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2015-2017

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Cassini’s Interplanetary Trajectory

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Cassini Mission Overview

View from Sun

Image assessed on 2nd June, 2014 : http://heritage.stsci.edu/gallery/gallery.html7/2/2014



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• 62 Moons discovered yet.• Moons: Titan, Enceladus, Dione, Mimas, Rhea, Tethys,

Iapetus, Hyperion, Phoebe, Epimetheus, Janus, Pandora, Prometheus, Atlas, Pan, Calypso, Helene, Anthe, Methone, Telesto, Ymir, Daphnis, Mundilfari, Ijiraq, Paaliaq, Jarnsaxa, Fornjot, Tarqeq, Kari, Skoll, Hati, Fenrir, Polydeuces, Surtur, Narvi, Loge, Skathi, Greip, Farbauti, Thrymr, Tarvos, Aegir, Pallene, Siarnaq, Albiorix, Bebhionn, Bestla, Bergelmir, Hyrrokkin, Kiviuq

Moons

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Image assessed on 2nd June, 2014 : http://www.wingmakers.co.nz/universe/solar_system/Saturn.html

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1. Titan2. Rhea3. Iapetus4. Dione5. Tethys

Saturn and its Satellites by Bipul Neupane

On the basis of size

6. Enceladus 7. Mimas 8. Hyperion 9. Pheobe 10. Janus


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1. Titan

• Second largest moon of Solar System.• Bigger than smallest planet Mercury.• Only natural satellite known to have a

dense atmosphere, and the only object other than Earth for which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found.

• Only moon in the solar system that possesses a dense atmosphere (10 times denser than Eartrh's).

• May contain fundamental clues to the question of how life began on Earth for it may preserve, in deep-freeze, many of the chemical compounds that preceded life on Earth.

• Discovered: March 25, 1655 • Discoverer: Christiaan Huygens• Mass: 1.34x1023 kg• Gravity: 1.352 m/s²• Density: 1.88 g/cm³• Distance to Earth: 1,272,000,000 km• Distance from Saturn: 1,221,850 km• Orbital period: 15.945 days• Temperature at surface: 95 Kelvin



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2. Rhea• Distance to Earth: 1,272,000,000 km• Orbital period: 108 hours• Gravity: 0.264 m/s²• Discovered: 1672• Discoverer: Giovanni Cassini• Mass: 2.31x1021 kg• Equatorial diameter: 1,528 km• Distance from Saturn: 527,487 km• Circumference: 4,802 km

• Ninth-largest moon in the Solar System. • Smallest body in the Solar System

confirmed to be in hydrostatic equilibrium.

• Largest airless satellite in Saturnian system.

• Icy body with a low density, which indicates that it is composed of a rocky core taking up less than one-third of the moon's mass, with rest composed of water-ice.

• Rhea is heavily cratered with bright wispy markings.

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3. Iapetus• Occasionally called Japetus.• Half of Iapetus appears as dark

as asphalt, the other half as bright as snow.

• Eleventh-largest in the Solar System

• The largest body in the Solar System known not to be in hydrostatic equilibrium.

• A mountain ridge that runs along the moon’s equator is 20 km high, giving the moon walnut-shaped appearance.

• Discovered: 1671• Discoverer: Giovanni Cassini• Mass: 1.6x1021 kg• Orbital period: 79 days• Distance to Earth: 1,272,000,000 km• Distance from Saturn: 3,561,300 km• Gravity: 0.223 m/s²• Density: 1.09 g/cm³• Equatorial diameter: 1,436 km• Circumference: 4,622 km

Image assessed on 13th June, 2014 : http://jpl.nasaa.gov

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4. Dione

• Orbital period: 66 hours• Distance to Earth:

1,272,000,000 km• Distance from saturn: 377,400

km• Mass: 1.10x1021 kg• Density: 1.43 gm/cm3• Equatorial diameter: 1,118 km• Gravity: 0.232 m/s²• Circumference: 3,529 km

• Discovered by Cassini in 1684.

• Second densest moon of Saturn after Titan.

• Probably composed of a rocky core making for one-third of the mass and the rest is composed of water-ice.

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5. Tethys• Also called Saturn III.• Composed almost entirely of

water-ice.• Enormous trench called Ithaca

Chasma approximately 65km wide and 4 km deep runs over 1000 km and was probably caused by the moons’ liquid crust hardening before its interior.

• Discovered by G. D. Cassini in 1684 and is named after the titan Tethys of Greek mythology.

• Discovered: 1684• Discoverer: Giovanni Cassini• Distance to Earth:

1,272,000,000 km• Orbital period: 45 hours• Gravity: 0.145 m/s²• Density: 1.21 gm/cm3• Diameter:

1.071x1.058x1.052 km• Mass: 6.17x1020kg• Circumference: 3,349 km

Image assessed on 13th June, 2014 : http://wanderingspace.net7/2/2014


6. Enceladus

• Distance to Earth: 1,272,000,000 km

• Distance from Saturn: 237,378 km• Mass: 1.2x1020 kg• Diameter: 512x494x489 km• Gravity: 0.113 m/s²• Orbital period: 33 hours• Discovered: 1789• Discoverer: William Herschel

• One of the brightest object in solar system(100% of lights gets reflected due to the coverage of water-ice).

• Temperature: -201 degree Celsius.• There are no craters larger than

35 km in diameter.• Believed to be geologically young

possibly less than 100 million years old.

• Little was known about Enceladus until the two Voyager spacecraft passed near it in the early 1980s.

Assessed on 2nd June, 2014 : http://heritage.stsci.edu/gallery/gallery.html

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Saturn and its Satellites by Bipul Neupane 33Image assessed on 13th June, 2014 : http://solarsystem.nasa.gov

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7. Mimas• Discovered: 1789• Discoverer: William

Herschel• Gravity: 0.064 m/s²• Mass: 3.81x1019 kg• Diameter: 418x392x383

km• Distance to Earth:

1,272,000,000 km• Distance from Saturn:

185,520 km• Orbital period: 22.6 hours

• Also called Saturn I• Made primararily of water-

ice.• Surface heavily cratered.• One of the craters, named

Herschel, is surprisingly large – nearly one third the moon’s entire diameter.

• Herschel is 10 km deep with central mountain that rises 6 km above crater floor.



8. Hyperion• Also known as Saturn

VII• Largest irregular shaped

natural satellite ever observed

• Largest crater on its surface is approximately 120 km in diameter and 10 km deep.

• Orbital period: 21 days• Discovered: 1848• Discoverers: William

Lassell, William Cranch Bond, George Phillips Bond

• Mass: 8x1017 kg• Equatorial diameter:

360x280x225 km• Distance from Saturn:

1,481,100 km



9. Pheobe • First satellite to be discovered

photographically.• Retrograde (orbits saturn in

opposite direction than other moons as well as all the other objects in solar system)

• Believed to be a Centaur(small body, neither an asteroid nor a kuiper belt object)

• Very dark and reflects only 6% of the light since it has not been heated enough to change its chemical composition after the migration from outer space

• Discovered: 1898• Discoverer: William Pickering• Diameter: 220 km• Mass: 4x1017 kg• Rotation: 9 hours• Period of orbit: 18 months• Distance from Saturn:

12,952,000 kmImage assessed on 13th June, 2014 : http://wanderingspace.net

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10. Janus

• Irregular with extensive catering.

• Shares its orbit path with Epimethus and the two moons swaps positions every few years – one moving slightly closer to Saturn and the other slightly farther.


• Discovered: 1996• Discoverer: Audouin

Dollfus• Diameter: 194x190x154• Mass: 1.90x1018 kg• Period of orbit: 16.7

hours• Distance from Saturn:

151,422 km


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References• Williams, David R. (September 7, 2006). "Saturn Fact Sheet". NASA. Archived from the original

on 2011-08-21. Retrieved 2007-07-31. Reretrived 2014-06-13.• "NASA: Solar System Exploration: Planets: Saturn: Facts & Figures". Solarsystem.nasa.gov.

2011-03-22. Archived from http://wanderingspace.net on 2014-06-13.• Guillot, Tristan et al. (2009). "Saturn's Exploration Beyond Cassini-Huygens". In Dougherty,

Michele K.; Esposito, Larry W.; Krimigis, Stamatios M.,. Saturn from Cassini-Huygens. Springer Science+Business Media B.V. p. 745.

• Guerlet, S.; Fouchet, T.; Bézard, B. (November 2008). Ethane, acetylene and propane distribution in Saturn's stratosphere from Cassini/CIRS limb observations. In Combes, C. "SF2A-2008: Proceedings of the Annual meeting of the French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics". "SF2A-2008: Proceedings of the Annual meeting of the French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics Eds.: C. Charbonnel: 405.

• Benton, Julius (2006). Saturn and how to observe it. Astronomers' observing guides (11th ed.). Springer Science & Business. p. 136.

• Spahn, F. et al. (2006). "Cassini Dust Measurements at Enceladus and Implications for the Origin of the E Ring". Science 311 (5766): 1416–1418.

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• "Age and Fate of Saturn's Rings" (PD). Creation Concepts. Retrieved 2014-06-13.• NASA (November 30, 2010). "Thin air: Oxygen atmosphere found on Saturn's moon Rhea".

ScienceDaily. Archived from http://abyss.uoregon.edu on 2014-06-13. • Cessna, Abby (November 15, 2009). "When Was Saturn Discovered?". Universe Today.

Archived from the original on 2011-10-05. Retrieved 2014-06-13.• "Astronomers Find Giant Lightning Storm At Saturn". ScienceDaily LLC. 2007. Archived from

the original on 2011-08-21. Retrieved 2014-06-13.• "Mission overview – introduction". Cassini Solstice Mission. NASA / JPL. 2010. Archived from

the original on 2011-08-21. Retrieved 2014-06-13.• "Saturn's Known Satellites". Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. Archived from

http://home.dtm.ciw.edu/users/sheppard/satellites/satsatdata.html on 2014-06-13.

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External Links• Assessed on 2nd June, 2014: http://jpl.nasaa.gov• Assessed on 2nd June, 2014: http://wanderingspace.net• Assessed on 5th June, 2014: http://heritage.stsci.edu/gallery/gallery.html• Assessed on 2nd June, 2014:

http://www.wingmakers.co.nz/universe/solar_system/Saturn.html• Assessed on 13th June, 2014: http://annessastronomynews.org• Assessed on 2nd June, 2014: http://nineplanets.org• Assessed on 13th June, 2014: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov• Assessed on 2nd June, 2014: http://mappingignorance.org• Assessed on 2nd June, 2014: http://www.prenticehall.com• Assessed on 9th June, 2014: http://www.solarviews.com • Assessed on 5th June, 2014: http://planetfacts.org• Assessed on 13th June, 2014: http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast121/lectures/lec17.html• Image assessed on 13th June, 2014: 2007-08-09T01:27:35Z Clh288 1860x1860 (590476 Bytes)

{{PD-NASA}} A NASA cassini image of dione a moon of Saturn. http://ciclops.org/view.php?id=3214 http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0707/dione3_cassini_big.jpg

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