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The Ringed Planet
Saturn is 95 times Earth's mass but less dense than water. Its stunning rings are made of billions of ice particles, from dust grains to house-sized chunks.
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Sixth planet from the Sun. Its iconic rings span 280,000 km but are only 10 meters thick. A gas giant with a density so low it would float in water.
Saturn is 95 times Earth's mass but less dense than water. Its stunning rings are made of billions of ice particles, from dust grains to house-sized chunks.
Saturn's rings stretch 280,000 km wide — but they're only about 10 meters thick! Tiny "shepherd moons" orbit within the rings, carving out gaps and keeping the edges sharp.
Saturn's largest moon Titan is the only moon with a thick atmosphere. It has rivers, lakes, and seas of liquid methane and ethane, plus a subsurface water ocean.
Saturn's moon, Enceladus, shoots plumes of water vapor and organic molecules from its south pole. These plumes feed Saturn's diffuse E ring and hint at a warm, salty ocean below the icy crust.
The Cassini spacecraft orbited Saturn for 13 years before plunging into the atmosphere in 2017. It discovered 6 new moons, mapped Titan, and captured the most detailed ring images ever.