Name: ____________________________________ Period: ________
Saturn
Orbital and Physical Properties
Mass: 5.7 × 1026 kg (________ times Earth)
Radius: 60,000 km (_________ times Earth, _____ times Jupiter)
Density: 700 kg/m3 – less than ___________!
Rotation: rapid and differential, enough to _________ Saturn considerably
Rings: very prominent; ______________ but extremely ______________
Saturn’s Atmosphere
Saturn’s atmosphere also shows ______________ structure, but coloration is much
more ______________ than Jupiter’s
Mostly molecular ______________, ______________, ______________, and
______________; helium fraction is much less than on Jupiter
Similar to Jupiter’s, except ______________ is lower
Three cloud layers
Cloud layers are ______________ than Jupiter’s; see only top layer
Wind patterns on Saturn are ______________ to those on Jupiter, with
______________ flow:
Jupiter-style “______________” rare on Saturn; don’t form often and quickly
______________ if they do
Saturn’s Interior and Magnetosphere
Interior structure similar to Jupiter’s:
Like Jupiter, Saturn also radiates more ______________ than
it gets from the Sun, but not because of cooling.
Helium and hydrogen are not well-mixed; ______________
tends to condense into droplets and then fall
______________ field compresses helium and heats it up
Saturn also has a strong magnetic field, but only ______________ as strong as
Jupiter’s
Creates ______________:
Saturn’s Spectacular Ring System
Saturn has an extraordinarily large and
complex ring system, which was visible even
to the first telescopes
Saturn’s rings are not in order, because:
Gas Giants
Page 1 of 4
Name: ____________________________________ Period: ________
Saturn
Saturn's rings change their appearance to terrestrial observers as the ______________
ring plane orbits the Sun.
Ring particles range in size from fractions of a ______________ to ______________
of meters
Composition: ______________ – very similar to snowballs
Why rings? Too close to planet for moon to form – ______________ would tear it
apart
Closest distance that moon could survive is called ______________ ; ring systems are
all inside this limit
______________ probes showed Saturn’s rings to be much more complex than
originally thought
Voyager also found radial “______________ ” that formed and then dissipated; this
probably happens frequently
______________ division turns out not to be completely empty:
It is caused by an ________________________
with other ring particles and Saturn’s
innermost moon
Strangest ring is outermost, ______ ring: It appears to have braids and kinks.
F ring’s oddities probably caused by two ________________________
Details of formation are unknown
Too ______________ to have lasted since birth of solar system
Either must be continually ______________ , or are the result of a ______________
event
The Moons of Saturn
Saturn’s many moons appear to be made of _______________________ _
Besides the small moons, Saturn has:
_______medium-sized moons (Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, and Iapetus)
______________ large moon (______________ ) which is almost as large as
Ganymede
Gas Giants
Page 2 of 4
Name: ____________________________________ Period: ________
Saturn
Titan
Titan has been known for many years to
have an atmosphere thicker and denser
than Earth’s; mostly ______________
and ______________
Makes surface impossible to see;
Trace chemicals in Titan’s atmosphere
make it ______________ complex
Due to difficulty of getting information,
little is known about either the surface or
the interior structure of Titan.
Huygens discovered a
___________________ surface with
rocks, Large bodies of liquid
Medium Sized Moons
Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, and Rhea all orbit between 3 and 9 planetary radii
from Saturn, and all are ___________________ – this means they have “leading” and
“trailing” surfaces.
Iapetus orbits 59 radii away, and is also tidally locked.
Rhea, the largest, has a ___________________ , heavily cratered surface:
___________________ are on trailing side but not leading; origin not yet understood:
Dione and Tethys are similar, having ___________________ , heavily cratered
surfaces:
Mimas is the closest moon to Saturn, and has a ___________________ covering onethird of its surface, the result of an impact that must have almost destroyed the moon:
Enceladus orbits close to Mimas, but is very shiny, indicating a surface covered with
___________________ :
Iapetus is two-faced: its leading side is very ___________________ (reflects 3% of
incoming light), while its trailing side is ___________________ (reflects 50% of
incoming light). Cause is unknown.
Seeing Saturn
___________________ was the first to see Saturn’s rings.
Gas Giants
Page 3 of 4
Name: ____________________________________ Period: ________
Saturn
He did not know what they were.
1655 - Christiaan ___________________ first to propose that Saturn is surrounded by
a solid ring; Huygens also discovered ___________________
Giovanni Domenico ___________________ was the first to observe 4 of Saturn’s
moons
Theorized (correctly) that Iapetus had a bright side and a dark side
Discovered the ___________________ in the rings
The ___________________ missions flew by Saturn in 1980 and 1981
___________________ is currently in orbit around Saturn
The Huygens probe was parachuted onto the surface of ___________________ in
2005
Summary
•
Saturn, like Jupiter, rotates ___________________ and is significantly
___________________
•
Saturn’s weather patterns are in some ways similar to Jupiter’s, but there are far
___________________ storms
•
Saturn generates its own heat through the ___________________ of “helium
raindrops”
•
Saturn has a large magnetic field and extensive ___________________
•
Saturn’s most prominent feature is its rings, which are in its ___________________
plane
•
The rings have considerable gross and fine structure, with segments and gaps; their
particles are ___________________ and grain- to boulder-sized
•
Interactions with medium and small ___________________ determines the ring
structure
•
The rings are entirely within the ___________________ limit, where larger bodies
would be torn apart by tidal forces
•
___________________ is the second-largest moon in the solar system
•
Titan has an extremely thick ___________________ , and little is known about its
surface or interior
•
Medium-sized moons are rock and ___________________ ; their terrains vary
•
These moons are ___________________ to Saturn
Gas Giants
Page 4 of 4