Saturn: Majestic Rings and Enigmatic Moons
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Presentation Transcript
Chapter 12 Saturn Spectacular Rings and Mysterious Moons
Saturn • Saturn's surface and interior are similar to that of Jupiter. • Saturn rotates rapidly with differential rotation.
Circulating Cloud system as viewed by the Hubble Space Telescope
Saturn’s Rings... • ... are less than 1 mile thick. • …are composed of fragments of ice and ice-coated rock. • …are made up of thousands of ringlets. • … are kept in shape by shepherd satellites. • … were formed by perhaps a comet passing within the Roche Limit of Saturn.
Saturn • The large dark gap in Saturn's rings is called The Cassini division. Cassini division
Saturn’s Moons • Saturn host at least 22 moons. • Only 7 are spherical.
Titan is the largest of Saturn's moons and has a rather thick atmosphere.
Titan a moon larger than the planet Mercury
Titan has an atmosphere!! The Limb Haze shown by Voyager 1 (colorized images)
Saturn Data • Mass 95.16M • Size 9.45R • Density 0.125D • Surface Gravity 1.07g • Escape Speed 36km/s
Saturn • Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flybys gave us data and pictures of Saturn and its moons. • Video Clips
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/countdown/ NASA WEb SITE The End