Science - Presentation About Saturn

7/31/2019 Science - Presentation About Saturn

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Saturn was the Roman god of

agriculture. He was called Cronus by theGreeks. He is the son of Uranus and thefather of Jupiter. Saturn overthrew hisfather to become king of the gods, butwas then overthrown himself by his sonJupiter.


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Because Saturn is bigger than the Earth,

you would weigh more on Saturn thanyou do here. If you weigh 70 (32 kg)pounds on Earth, you would weigh 74.5pounds (34 kg) on Saturn. Probably notas much as you thought, right? Keepreading to find out why.


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In many ways, Saturn is similar to Jupiter,but it is much smaller. It is the second

largest planet in our Solar System and it isa gas giant like Jupiter. Under the cloudsof methane, hydrogen and helium, thesky gradually turns into liquid until itbecomes a giant ocean of liquidchemicals.


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Saturn is the least dense planet in our Solar

System. It is made up of mostly hydrogenand helium, which are the two lightestelements in the universe and thus makeSaturn the lightest planet that we know of.This is why you wouldn't weigh as much onSaturn as you think you would because ofits size. And because Saturn is so light, itdoes not have as much gravity.Interestingly, it is believed Saturn wouldactually be able to float in water becausethe hydrogen and helium that make up theplanet are so lightweight.


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Because Saturn is such a lightweightplanet and it spins so fast, Saturn is not

perfectly round like most of the other planets. Like Jupiter, Saturn is wider in themiddle and more narrow near its topand bottom.


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Saturn is most well-known for its rings.However, it is not the only planet withrings. Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune alsohave rings. Saturn is a favorite object for many observers. Its beautiful rings are169,800 miles wide (approx 273,266 km).But the rings are amazingly thin. If youturned the rings on their side, they wouldbe able to fit between the goal posts ona football field.


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The rings are split into categories, Ring A,Ring B, Ring C, Ring D, Ring E, Ring F and

Ring G, totaling 7 in all. The rings are notsolid but rather are made up of particlesof ice, dust and rocks. The rings are heldin place around Saturn by the moonsthat also orbit this large planet. Thegravity of these moons also cause thegaps that are seen in between the rings.


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Saturn has 53 official moons and 9provisional (unofficial) moons. The most

well-known of Saturn's moons is probablyTitan. It is the second largest moon in theSolar System next to Jupiter's Ganymede.Titan is larger than the planet Mercury.Some of the other moons are Atlas,Calypso, Dione, Enceladus, Hyperion,Iapetus, Janus, Mimas, Phoebe, and

Tethys.


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Of all the planets, Saturn reigns supreme,well at least in the moon

department. That is because Saturn hasmore moons than any other planet, 62currently, and counting. Of these 62moons, 53 are classified officially asmoons, 9 are provisional (unofficial)moons. We'll talk about a few of themoons below.


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Although most of Saturn's moons aresmall, a few such as Titan are verylarge. Many of Saturn's moons orbitaround the edge of the planet'srings. They help to keep the rings inplace, just as a shepherd keeps sheep in

place. For this reason we call thesemoons Shepherd Moons.


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Pan is the closest known moon to Saturn'ssurface. It was discovered by Mark R.Showalter in 1990, by looking at picturessent back from Voyager. Because Pan isvery small and so far away, there is notmuch we know about it.

This moon was named after the god ofwoods, fields and flocks, having ahuman body and head, and goat legs,horns and ears.


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Atlas is the second of Saturn'smoons. Discovered in 1980 by R. Terrile, itorbits Saturn just to the side of the ARing. This makes Atlas a shepherdmoon.

Atlas was also known by the nameHercules in mythology.


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Prometheus, which was discovered by S.Collins and others in 1980, is the inner

shepherd satellite of Saturn's F ring.Prometheus was named after a manwho stole fire from Olympus and gave itto humankind in Greek mythology. It isthe third closest moon to the surface ofSaturn.


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The outer shepherd moon of the F Ring isnamed Pandora. This small moon wasdiscovered in 1980 by S. Collins. The namePandora comes from Greek mythology. She was the first woman sent toEarth by Jupiter as a punishment for Prometheus' theft of fire. According to the

story, Jupiter sent her to Earth with a box ofall the problems and sicknesses of life. Sheopened the box out of curiosity, releasingall these ills on humankind.


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Epimetheus is the fifth moon from Saturn'ssurface. It was discovered by RichardWalker first in 1966, and then again in 1977

by Stephen Larson and John Fountain.These three officially share the discovery. In1966 Epimetheus was confused with Janus,another of Saturn's moons. Epimetheus andJanus are very interesting moons. Theyactually trade places with each other every4 years.In Greek mythology Epimetheus was thehusband of Pandora.


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Janus was discovered by the Frenchastronomer Audouin Dollfus in 1966. The

name Janus comes from the Greek godof gates and doors. Janus is also the rootof the name January.


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Mimas reveals a striking resemblance to thepopular film Star Wars Death Star. It is for thatreason nick named by astronomers "The DeathStar."The large crater which you can see, is namedHerschel. It is so big compared to the size ofMimas, that whatever hit the moon probably

just about tore it apart.Notice how round Mimas is. This is because it isbig enough that its gravity can pull the materialinto a globe. Many of Saturn's moons are toosmall to be pulled into balls.Mimas was discovered in 1789 by WilliamHerschel. This moon was named after one of

the Titans slain by Hercules.


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The eighth moon orbiting Saturn is Enceladus. InGreek mythology Enceladus was a Titan whowas defeated in battle and buried under Mount Etna by Athena. Discovered in 1789 byWilliam Herschel, Enceladus is the brightestobject besides the Sun in the Solar System. Ofcourse, on Earth we cannot see it at all withouta telescope. This is because it is small and far away.

The smooth surface of Enceladus tells scientiststhat it has recently been active. Scientists donot know for sure whether it is water, volcanicor other material that has erupted in the last100 million years giving this moon such a

smooth face.


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Tethys is like a giant ice cube in thesky. It is almost pure water ice. At onetime long ago it was liquid. It would

have been a giant ocean with no landand no seabed. Or like a giant blob ofwater floating in the sky.In Greek mythology Tethys was a Titaness

and sea goddess who was both sister and wife of Oceanus.This moon was discovered by Cassini in1684.


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The tenth world orbiting Saturn is namedTelesto. Telesto was discovered in 1980

by Smith, Reitsema, Larson andFountain. Telesto is one of the smallestmoons in the Solar System.In Greek mythology Telesto was adaughter of Oceanus and Tethys.


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Discovered by Pascu, Seidelmann, Baumand Currie in 1980, Calypso was named

for a sea nymph who delayed Odysseuson her island for seven years. LikeTelesto, Calypso is one of the smallestmoons in the Solar System.


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The twelfth moon from Saturn is namedDione. This world was discovered in 1684

by Cassini. Dione is the densest, or heaviest of Saturn's moons.Dione was the mother of Venus in Greek Mythology.


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Helene is the thirteenth of Saturn'smoons. It was discovered by Lecacheux

and Laques in 1980. Not much is knownabout this moon, although the CassiniSpacecraft recently flew close to Heleneand took a great picture of its surface.Helene was an Amazon who fought withAchilles in Greek Mythology.


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Rhea is the second largest of Saturn'sMoons. In Greek Mythology Rhea was

the wife of Saturn and the mother ofNeptune, Jupiter and Pluto.This world was discovered in 1672 byCassini.


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Discovered by Huygens in 1655, Titan is thelargest moon orbiting Saturn, and thesecond largest moon in the Solar System. It

is bigger in diameter than both the planetsMercury and Pluto and also larger thanEarth's moon.It contains an atmosphere far thicker than

even that of the Earth. Unfortunatelyscientists don't know very much about thisworld because they have not yet beenable to penetrate its thick clouds to

photograph its surface.


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Saturn's Sixteenth moon was discoveredby Bond and Lassell in 1848. Hyperion is

the largest object in the Solar Systemthat is not ball shaped. Its size andshape tells scientists that it probably usedto be part of a larger rounder moonwhich somehow broke apart.In Greek mythology Hyperion was theson of Earth and Uranus.


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Iapetus, which was discovered by Cassini in1671, is another world made up almostentirely of water ice. Most of Saturn'smoons orbit the planet on the same plane,the plane of the planet's equator. This icecube does not, however, follow the samepath that Saturn's other moons

follow. Instead, it orbits Saturn from top tobottom.In Greek mythology Iapetus was the son ofUranus. He was also an ancestor to the

Human Race.


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Phoebe is 4 times more distant from Saturnthan Iapetus, its nearest neighbor. This smallworld was discovered by Pickering in1898. Phoebe is much darker than most ofthe other moons of Saturn, and like Iapetus,it orbits Saturn nearly top to bottom insteadof around its equator Both of these facts

lead scientists to believe that phoebe isprobably a captured asteroid or comet.In Greek mythology Phoebe is the daughter of Uranus and Earth.


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The following moons have only recentlybeen discovered. There is still only very

little information about these worlds:S/2007 S2, S/2007 S3, S/2009 S1, Surtur,Aegaeon, Anthe, Tarqeq, Jarnsaxa,Greip, Skoll, Loge, Kari, Hati, Hyrrokkin,Fenrir, Farbauti, Bestla, and severalothers.


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Saturn is the furthest planet from Earththat can be seen without the help of atelescope.


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Science - Presentation About Saturn