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.
