SATURN MAGNIFICENT
No
story about the Solar System in this Universe or the galaxy is complete without a thorough discussion about the
nature’s prominent beacon, the fabulous planet named Saturn, the sixth planet
out from the Sun. first of all its steady brightness, secondly, its lovely
right system, thirdly the massive hydrogen atmosphere, fourthly, its placement
in the Solar System. Fifth and surely not the last the retinue of 63 moons and
moonlets mostly lying hidden inside the rings. As you are surely aware, the
sixth planet is also the second largest in the Solar system. It stands at
120,536 km across which is about 19 times more than the Earth. Saturn’s
tremendous magnetic field is 1000 times stronger than the Earth. Awesome winds
blow on its surface no less than 1800km/hour but slower than on Neptune.
The
Jupiter is not planet but a brown dwarf, have done a favour to Saturn. It is
the largest of all planets. The Roman god of agriculture (Saturnus) has crust
not very different from that of the Earth. But deep down in its core hydrogen
gas undergoes a transition into metallic form owning to ominous pressures at
work absolutely relentlessly and gradually increasing heat.
It
is also said that gullible ancestors of ours Saturn very appropriately has a
sickle for a symbol. For thousands of years, in thousands of epochs the planet
has been revered like little else. Although 95 times more massive than the
earth, planet Saturn is only 16 percent of the density of the lesser cousin. It
is composed of iron, nickel and rock (Silicon and Oxygen compounds), surrounded
by a deep layer of metallic hydrogen and liquid helium again surrounded by an
outer layer of gas.
Saturn
is a mighty windy planet. Winds may reach the velocity of 1800km per hour.
Often more these winds can be far faster than on Jupiter but way short of those
on Neptune where they blow like crazy, planet Earth has known nothing like it
for the last three billion years. But when the only traces of life were
confined to the seas where the fauna (an animal life) was still far into the
future. All the Saturn moons, Titan is the largest. In fact Titan is the king
among moons. Much larger than our own moon, it has a diameter of 5900km (out
moon is 347km). the next largest in the Solar System is Jupiter’s moon named
Ganymede (its mass is much more than Titan). Titan has an atmosphere, somewhat
like us the orbital speed of Titan is a leisurely 9.69 km per second. But
because Saturn has a lot more to travel, it completes its orbit in 30 years.
Our
earth is also flattened at the poles thought it is a solid and not a gaseous
planet. But as it is know that once upon
a time it was fluid and so it developed a bulge around the equator, making the
equatorial area slightly larger than the poles. That is the true for all
planets and their moons. Some of Saturn moons have very interesting names.
