The strangest planet in the solar system-Saturn

Saturn is the farthest planet visible to the naked eye and the last planet discovered before 1781. Saturn is a gaseous planet. Like Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, it is a Jupiter-like planet. Of the eight planets in the solar system, four are solid (earth-like) planets, and four are gaseous (wood-like) planets. Solid planets have stable rocky and soil surfaces, represented by the earth. The surfaces of gaseous planets are covered with a thick atmosphere, but their cores are also rocky or metal cores, surrounded by thick liquid gas or solid gas. For example, Neptune, its surface is dominated by solid methane. This is because the gaseous planets are far away from the sun, and the heat from the sun is limited, so the temperature is extremely low. At extremely low temperatures, the atmosphere is frozen into a solid state.

The strangest planet in the solar system-Saturn

Saturn

Saturn is much larger than the Earth. Its radius is more than 60,000 kilometers, which is almost 10 times that of the Earth. Its surface temperature is minus 139°C, which is very cold. Saturn spins very fast. It rotates once every 10 hours and 33 minutes at a speed of 37,000 kilometers per hour, or 10.3 kilometers per second. The revolution period is 29.5 years, and the revolution speed is 9690 meters per second. Saturn's revolution is an elliptical orbit. The diameter of this elliptical orbit is about 10 astronomical units, which is about 1.5 billion kilometers. Then, after conversion, Saturn has orbited about 6 billion kilometers in a circle around the sun.

The strangest planet in the solar system-Saturn

Saturn and its beautiful rings

The density of Saturn is 0.687 g/cm², although it is much smaller than the Earth, but because it is much larger than the Earth, the mass of Saturn is very large, 5683 trillion tons, which is about 95 times heavier than the Earth. Saturn rotates at a high speed, and its own density is low, and there is no rocky surface. Therefore, during the long rotation years, Saturn has the appearance of an oblate sphere, that is, the equatorial radius is greater than the polar radius, and the difference between the two is 10%. We know that the celestial bodies in the universe do not have perfect spheres, and the planets in the solar system are no exception. For example, the earth is an oblate sphere, but everyone is not as flat as Saturn. Saturn is also the only planet in the solar system with a density lower than water. Even so, Saturn and Jupiter also occupy 92% of all masses in the solar system except the sun. What does it mean? That is, except for 99.86% of the sun, 92% of the 0.14% remains.

The strangest planet in the solar system-Saturn

Saturn observed by ordinary telescopes, the rings are clearly visible

In other words, the sun in the solar system occupies 99.86, and all the remaining planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, moons, comets, meteors, cosmic dust and other celestial bodies of all sizes occupy the remaining 0.14, and in this 0.14, Jupiter and Saturn again Occupies the absolute majority at 92%. In the solar system, except for the sun, Jupiter and Saturn are absolute kings.

The strangest planet in the solar system-Saturn

Photos of Saturn taken by the "Huygens" probe

In fact, gaseous planets are not all atmospheres, but their inner cores are still composed of rocks such as calcium carbonate and liquid metals. So does Saturn. From the outside to the inside, it is the atmosphere, the outer layer of hydrogen and helium, liquid hydrogen, metallic hydrogen, and the inner core of Saturn. It is a hot magma state under high temperature and high pressure. Its composition is similar to that of the earth's inner core, but the temperature and pressure are far greater than that of the earth. According to calculations, the temperature of Saturn's inner core is as high as 11700°C, and the solar heat it receives is only a quarter of the radiant heat inside. Many planets in the outer solar system have this phenomenon, such as Pluto, which is far away from the sun and can receive very little solar heat, but its surface temperature is higher than that of Neptune on the inner side. Although it is also more than 200 degrees below zero, it is more than Neptune. The reason is that it radiates heat from the inside to the outside. But what makes Saturn unique is that Saturn radiates the most heat from the interior, which is four times more solar heat than it receives, which is very rare.

The strangest planet in the solar system-Saturn

The real surface of Saturn

The biggest feature of Saturn is that it has a beautiful ring-Saturn's ring. The rings of Saturn are located on the equator of Saturn, which is both spectacular and beautiful. Observed from the earth, there are 5 rings of Saturn, three bright rings and two dark rings, namely: A, B, C, D, E rings. These rings are actually wide and large, such as the B ring. With a radius of 91,500 kilometers, an outer radius of 116500 kilometers, and a width of 25,000 kilometers, it can be discharged side by side into two earths. There is a gap of 4800 kilometers between the A ring and the B ring. In fact, further afield, there are F ring and G ring. These rings of Saturn are actually countless small moons, rubble, ice, dust and other materials orbiting around it. There are hundreds to thousands of various rings in the plane of Saturn's rings. They have all kinds of shapes, strange, incomplete, jagged, radial, hemp rope-like, and so on. In fact, there is still a huge dark ring in the outer periphery of Saturn, which can only be discovered by the probe at close range. The inner side of this ring is 6 million kilometers from Saturn, 12 million kilometers wide, and can hold 1 billion Earths.

The strangest planet in the solar system-Saturn

Comparison of the sizes of the eight planets in the solar system

Saturn also has the most satellites, as of 2019, 82 have been discovered. Evidence shows that there are countless small moons in Saturn's rings, some of which are only tens to hundreds of meters in diameter. Under normal circumstances, such small rocks and broken ice are not considered satellites. The number of satellites of Saturn has not yet been determined. With the improvement of observation technology, the number of satellites of Saturn will increase. Based on the current 82 satellites alone, Saturn has become the planet with the most satellites in the solar system.

The strangest planet in the solar system-Saturn

Titan

The largest satellite of Saturn is Titan, or Titan. Titan is 5150 kilometers in diameter, which is larger than Mercury and the Moon. It is the first satellite discovered by mankind in addition to the moon and Ganymede, and the second largest satellite in the solar system (after Ganymede). Titan is currently the most likely planet known to have life. Various explorations have shown that Titan is the ideal home for immigrants in the future, and it is more suitable for human transformation than Mars. The only downside is that it is far away, but far away is not a bad thing. After another 5 billion years, the sun will run out of its energy, exit the ranks of the main sequence stars, and become a red giant star that no longer emits light and heats. At that time, the volume of the sun will expand and its gravity will be greatly enhanced. Celestial bodies will be sucked mercilessly by the sun and will merge with the sun, and the earth will of course be no exception. But if Titan stays away from the sun, it can escape this bad luck.

The strangest planet in the solar system-Saturn

The left is the surface of Titan, the right is the surface of the earth

To sum up, among the eight planets in the solar system, Saturn is the strangest. With a beautiful ring, Saturn can be proud of other planets. And its satellite Titan is an existence that Saturn is proud of. Saturn is the least dense planet, the planet with the most satellites, the planet with the highest wind eye wall, and the ring of Saturn is also the largest ring in the solar system.

The strangest planet in the solar system-Saturn

The ocean on the surface of Titan

Finally, there is no soil on Saturn. For the same reason, there is no fire on Mars, and there is no drop of water on Mercury. There are no trees on Jupiter, and there is no gold on Venus. But there are few pitiful lands on the earth. Strictly speaking, the earth is a veritable Mercury. The earth is properly a large water ball and a vast ocean with an area of ​​370 million square kilometers. When viewed from space, the earth is a blue marble. How did the names of the five planets, gold, wood, water, fire, and earth come from?

The strangest planet in the solar system-Saturn

Earth-Moon System

That is the name given by the ancients of our country according to the theory of Yin, Yang, Five Elements and Eight Diagrams. The outer celestial bodies that ancient people can observe with the naked eye are the five planets, namely, gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. How did you get in the right seat? Just look at the appearance of these five planets!

The strangest planet in the solar system-Saturn

Titan's true surface

The earth is the place where human beings live, and there is a solid ground under their feet, which is naturally called the earth. As for the vast expanse of the ocean, ancient people did not know it, nor could they go to the ocean, let alone fly into space to see the earth from a distance. The ancients even thought that the earth was square and square, a plane, and the sky was a big cover covering the earth.

The strangest planet in the solar system-Saturn

Mercury

Mercury-The ancients observed that Mercury is fast moving and has fast mobility, and water is a flowing liquid, so they named Mercury Mercury. Mercury is the closest to the sun and is covered by the sun's rays. It is looming and difficult to see, but when you see it at dawn or dusk, it looks like water.

The strangest planet in the solar system-Saturn

Jupiter

Venus-very bright and bright, also called Venus or Chengeng, it is the brightest star in the sky except the moon. Where did the ancients know so much! Seeing it shine, there must be gold on it, so I named it Venus.

The strangest planet in the solar system-Saturn

Venus

Mars-Mars is orange-red, much like a fireball. As the name suggests, when you think about it the other way round, the word fire is nothing but Mars.

The strangest planet in the solar system-Saturn

Mars Jupiter-the largest star besides the sun! Among the yin-yang and five-element gossip, wood is the largest, so the ancients called it Jupiter.