1. Sixth planet from the
Sun and second largest in the system. The outermost planet known in classical times. 764 times Earth's volume, 94 times its mass. Orbits once in nearly 30 Earth years at a distance of roughly 925 million miles.
Gravity at cloud decks averages about 1.16 times that on Earth. The least dense planet in the system, overall density roughly .687 times that of water. Diameter 74,898 miles through the equator, give or take
five miles;
67,560 miles through the poles, give or take
13 miles.
Average temperature at visible cloud decks is about 185 degrees Centigrade below zero. Atmosphere is mostly hydrogen with some helium and traces of other elements, similar but not identical to that of Jupiter. Cloud patterns appear more subdued than on Jupiter, due at least in part to an upper layer of haze. Best known for its bright and extensive ring system, consisting of countless trillions of blocks of (mainly) water ice. Most of the ring system is within a diameter of 225,000 miles or so, but is only a few hundred
feet thick; scaled down to the size of a city, the rings would be as thick as a sheet of newsprint. Saturn has a retinue of
major satellites comparable to those around Jupiter; only one of them,
Titan, is particularly large. The latter is an intriguing body recently imaged by the Cassini Probe and visited by the Huygens Lander, and the only
moon in the solar system with an appreciable atmosphere.
2. Roman god of
time and farming, equivalent to the Greek Kronos. Best known for his feeling of unease at the possibility that his sons would outdo him, which he assuaged in the most efficient way possible; by eating them. One of them, however, escaped. His
name was Jupiter, and the rest, as they say, is mythology.
3. The family of rockets used in the Apollo mission that (Uncle Sam, take a
bow) landed
humans on the
Moon.
Saturn is often referred to as the Lord of the Rings.
Goya painted Saturn devouring one of his
children.
The Saturn V
rocket blasted off, taking Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins to the
moon.
