Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun, and the second largest in the solar system. It’s surrounded by beautiful rings.
Facts About Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in our solar system.
Saturn is a massive ball made mostly of hydrogen and helium. It's surrounded by a beautiful ring system. It's the farthest planet from Earth discovered by the unaided human eye.
Exploring Saturn
Four robotic spacecraft have visited Saturn.
NASA's Pioneer 11 provided the first close look in September 1979. NASA's twin Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft followed up with flybys nine months apart in 1980 and 1981. Each flyby revealed intriguing details about the ringed giant world, but it wasn't until Cassini arrived in orbit in 2004 that our understanding of Saturn really started to take shape.
Moons of Saturn
Saturn has dozens of officially recognized moons in its orbit, more than any other planet.
Saturn's moons range in size from Titan, which is larger than the planet Mercury – to a moon that's as small as a sports arena. Enceladus has a global ocean under a thick, icy shell.
Saturn and Titan Resources
Explore a curated collection of resources about Saturn.
This resource package is suitable for educators, students, and anyone interested in learning more about Saturn and Titan!
Saturn's Shapes
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NASA’s Hubble Tracks New Decagon Encircling Saturn’s South Pole
Recent observations with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have revealed a giant, evolving, 10-sided atmospheric wave encircling Saturn's south pole. This discovery marks the first time a large, regular-sided jet pattern has been observed in the planet's southern hemisphere.
NASA, ESA, STScI, Agustin Sánchez-Lavega (UPV), Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), Michael Wong (UC Berkeley); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan -
Saturn's Hexagon
In Saturn's northern hemisphere, an enormous spinning hexagon in the clouds at its north pole was first spotted in the 1980s. The hurricane-like vortex has an eye about 50 times larger than a typical Earth hurricane, and a maximum wind speed about double that of the strongest cyclones here.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
