Page 37 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

The most striking rings that encircle Saturn can be seen clearly on Earth because, like the Earth, Saturn is noticeably tilted on its axis. In the case of Saturn the tilt is 26.7° (that of the Earth is 23.5°).
Saturn spins quite quickly on its axis, making a complete turn in about 10 hours, that is, in less than half an Earth day. However, Saturn takes 29.4 Earth years to revolve around the Sun.
Interestingly, Saturn is nearly the same size as Jupiter, although it has only a third of Jupiter’s mass. In fact, Saturn is the least dense of all of the planets, with a density of just 0.7 g/cm3 (that is, it would float on water). So, although Saturn is 766 times as big as the Earth, it “weighs” (its mass is) just 95 times that of the Earth.
Saturn is another of the planets that, with Jupiter, had all the makings of a star but never developed into one, probably because there was never enough space matter in its orbit to allow it to grow to a critical size.
The core
 An artist’s impression of Cassini, the latest of the space probes to investigate Saturn.
For more on Cassini see “Outer worlds” in Volume 6: Journey into space.
atmosphere The envelope of gases that surrounds the Earth and other bodies in the universe.
axis (pl. axes) The line around which a body spins.
core The central region of a body.
density A measure of the amount of matter
in a space.
magnetic field The region of influence of a magnetic body.
mass The amount of matter in an object. matter Anything that exists in physical form.
orbit The path followed by one object as it tracks around another.
probe An unmanned spacecraft designed to explore our solar system and beyond.
star A large ball of gases that radiates light. The star nearest the Earth is the Sun.
voyager A pair of U.S. space probes
designed to provide detailed information about the outer regions of the solar system.
It is very difficult to find out much about the Gas planet’s interior because of its immensely
thick atmosphere. But it is known to
have a magnetic
Metallic core
Dust bands
Liquid
field, and so near the core there must be a moving body of metal.
 The suggested structure of Saturn.
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