El Planet Saturn It is one of the favorite planets of scientists and amateurs, thanks to its attributes, one of which is that it can be easily observed from Earth, the beauty of its rings, its satellites, etc.
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the planet of saturn In terms of its dimensions, it follows "Jupiter" which is in first place in size, in position with respect to the proximity to the Sun, it is number six, it has rings which can be viewed from Earth.
As for the name, it comes from the Roman God Saturn. It is found in the group of so-called gaseous or outer planets.
The part that stands out the most on this planet are its luminous rings. It was always considered as the planet that was farthest from the star king, being at that time a planet that did not show anything of interest or had bright, this changed when the telescope was invented.
The rings of the planet were seen for the first time in the year 1610 by Galileo, at that time the telescope did not have much clarity, this made him believe that the rings were two large satellites.
Years later this information was corrected by Christiaan Huygens, who, using improved equipment, noticed the hoops, this happened in the year 1659.
By means of mathematics it was shown that the rings were not of solid consistency and that rather they were many particles with a tiny size that were grouped, by James Clerk Maxwell in the year 1859.
These elements that make up the rings of this planet make its spins have high speeds, it is estimated that they can go at a speed of 48.000 km/h, equivalent to how a projectile goes.
The Origin of the Name of the Planet Saturn
According to the position with respect to the Sun, Saturn is one point farther than the Sun. Planet JupiterThis is why the Romans named it after the progenitor of Jupiter, who was called Saturn.
Based on Roman mythology, Saturn was equal to the old Greek Titan Cronus, who was the firstborn of "Uranus" and his mother was "Gaea", in the world of the Gods, ruled by Cronus, men had the habit of devouring humans. sons that were born to him so that this God would not lose his throne.
One of the sons managed to escape from being devoured, his name was "Zeus", then he managed to replace his father on the throne.
The beneficiaries were the Greeks and Romans, who inherited the Sumerian (historical religion of the Middle East) and wisdom, they understood everything related to the sky, they confirmed that there were seven stars that rotated in the sky: the Sun, the planets: Mercury , Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, there was also the Moon.
There were also several stars that wandered, which have different speeds and that made their orbit around the planet Earth, this planet was said to be the center of the universe.
Saturn moves with the least speed of the five planets, to go around the Sun takes about twenty-nine years and four hundred and fifty-seven days, it takes about three times longer than it takes Jupiter, which is eleven years and eight hundred and sixty-seven. two days, as for the three remaining planets such as Mercury, Venus and Mars, the inequality is greater.
Saturn stands out because it is very slow and if Jupiter is supposed to be Zeus, then Saturn was Cronus, the old father, who very slowly passed through the stars.
The General Characteristics of the Planet Saturn
The planet has flattened poles and a kind of oval sphere stands out at the equator. Its measurement in the equator zone is 120.536 kilometers and in the polar zone it is 108.728 kilometers.
This is caused by the speed of its movement or rotation, the little gravity it has and its gaseous nature. The rest of the planets also have an oval shape but it is not so marked.
It has a thickness of about six hundred and ninety kg/m3, it should be noted that among the planets this is the only one to have a lower density than the density of water, being one thousand kg/m3.
Its atmosphere is about ninety-six percent hydrogen and it has three percent helium.
It has a volume that is required to support the planet Earth, having a mass of only ninety-five times more than the Earth, due to its low density.
The rotation time of the planet is doubtful since it is a planet without a surface and there is a variation in its atmosphere, each time it makes a turn at a different latitude.
Since the sound waves called Voyager were sent, it is estimated that the rotation time of the planet, according to the cycle of the amounts of radio signals exposed by it, was approximately 10 hours 39 minutes and 22 seconds.
Cassini and Ulisses are space missions that were able to demonstrate that this radio emission lapse always varies in time, for example at this moment it is 10 hours and 45 minutes and approximately forty-five seconds.
The variation of the rotation period of the radius can be caused by cryovolcanic action (which is a kind of volcano of ice and water), similar to a geyser (which is a thermal source that in periods of time launches liquid with a high temperature next to air gases), from the sixth satellite of Saturn Enceladus, which releases elements into the planet's orbit by interacting with the magnetic field outside the planet.
Which is used to know how much the rotation of the nucleus measures where it starts. In short, the rotation span of the inner part of the planet can only be known by making approximate calculations.
Saturn is nine times the size of planet Earth, and nine times farther from the Sun.
If planet Earth and Saturn are observed from the Sun at the moment they are in the same place, at the point where the orbit is cut by means of the elliptical, the two planets will be observed to be of the same size.
The Internal Structure of the Planet
According to typical planetary models, the inner part of Saturn is very similar to the inner part of Jupiter, where the core is rocky surrounded by helium, hydrogen and traces of some substances that are volatile.
The exterior is covered by a blanket of liquid hydrogen, a consequence of the high temperatures and due to the exaggerated pressures.
There is an atmosphere created by helium and also hydrogen on the outside of the planet for about thirty thousand kilometers.
It is thought that inside the planet there is a core created by materials with low temperatures which have been found since the creation of the planet and its consistency must be liquid, exerting pressure and the temperature must be similar to the temperature of the core.
The temperature is close to two thousand K, almost twice the temperature of the Sun's surface.
Saturn, in the same way as Jupiter and Neptune, reflects a great amount of heat outward, greater than that received by Structure of the sun. A portion of this energy is generated by a slow contraction carried out by the planet, releasing gravitational potential energy that is born from pressure.
This type of mechanism is called a "Kelvin-Helmholtz" mechanism. The excess heat that is created because of a division of the cycles between hydrogen and helium that are very similar, which are losing similarity since the planet is forming, releasing gravitational energy as heat.
Atmosphere
The gas layer of Saturn has a kind of bands of light and other dark tones which are similar to those of Jupiter, with the difference that the bands that Saturn has are lighter.
The atmosphere on the planet is accompanied by great winds that have direction to the alternative parallels in its latitude and with many symmetries in the two hemispheres, despite the seasonal consequence of how tilted the planet is.
A great current that comes from the equatorial zone dominates the wind at the height of the Clouds with a speed range of four hundred and fifty m/s in Voyager time. The opposite of what happens in Jupiter happens, they are not big vortices, there is a variety of smaller size.
The highest clouds are presumed to be composed of ammonia crystals. Above these crystals there is a mist that goes around the planet, a consequence of photochemical phenomena in the entire gas layer of the highest atmosphere, approximately ten mbar.
With more depth and with a pressure of about ten bar, the water in the atmosphere can become concentrated in a cloudy layer of water that has not been observed to date.
There are storms in the atmosphere, like those that occur on Jupiter, some of them have been observed from Earth. As in 1933 there was a white shadow that was at the level of the equator, it was seen by the astronomer William Thomson.
The stain was so large that it was visualized with a 7 cm refractor, it lasted very little, it disappeared immediately. Which is related to a matter of alignment of huge storms.
There are photographic plates that were taken in the last century, with an interval of thirty years between them. Where you can see shadows similar to those found in previous years. In the year 1994 there was a storm that was also seen but its size was fifty percent smaller than those of the year 1990.
By 1962 a shadow began to grow, he had no progress. For the year 1990, a giant white cloud was observed that was in the equator of Saturn, which was integrated into a group of large storms.
Several storms of considerable size have been captured on Saturn by means of the Cassini probe.
There is a giant storm, in which it had lightning of ten thousand more power than any storm that has appeared on Earth, its appearance was on November 27, 2007, and it lasted about seven and a half months, at that time it was a record for how long it had lasted, never before seen in the solar system.
This storm was present in the southern hemisphere of the planet, the area in which it was located is called "alley of storms" since these events eventually occur in that place. The record was surpassed by the appearance of another storm in the same place, this occurred in the year 2009 in the month of January, with a duration of nine months.
There was a storm so big that it covered the entire planet, this occurred in the month of December 2010, this time it was in the northern hemisphere creating a central vortex of a dark color with a width of five thousand kilometers.
Similar to the shadow that appeared on Jupiter called the "Great Red Spot", it was very strong, perhaps the most powerful of any storm that has occurred. This storm carried clouds of ammonia crystals deep into Saturn's atmosphere.
It lasted about two hundred days more or less, with the collaboration of the Cassini probe and ground telescopes, analyzes of it were carried out, increasing its size until it reached an area of about eight times the size of the Earth, it was possible to appreciate with the ease of the radio waves that were generated with the electrical device connected to it.
The polar areas have a jet stream at "78°N and 78°S". In the 1980s, the Voyager probes detected a kind of hexagonal figure in the area of the north pole that was seen by the Hubble telescope from space in the last decade of the XNUMXth century.
The Cassini probes captured the most up-to-date images showing the polar vortex in detail. Saturn so far is unique in having a polar vortex with this typology when vortices are also present on the planets of Venus and Earth.
As for the hexagon that is located at the north pole of Saturn, each side has approximately thirteen thousand eight hundred kilometers in its measurement, it is much larger than the diameter of the Earth, the hexagon has a rotation similar to the movement that the planets have .
The difference is that this is a standing wave that does not vary in size, nor does it have variation in structure, as happens with other clouds found in the atmosphere.
Polygonal figures possessing three to six faces have been repeated by means of fluid rotations in laboratory simulations.
On the other hand, some jet streams are present at the south pole, as the captured images show, these are not hexagonal waves, nor are they vortices. Likewise, NASA gave a report in November 2006 where it says that the Cassini probe captured a hurricane near the south pole, having a sharp eye.
The clarity of the eyes was only observed on planet Earth, not even in the Great Red Spot of Jupiter by the Galileo probe has any image been detected that shows a well-defined eye.
The vortex that has more or less eight thousand kilometers in its diameter, could not be photographed until now, nor analyzed by the Cassini probe, the winds have presented a measurement of five hundred kilometers per hour.
In the year 2010 in the month of April, NASA published some images and videos that show the electrical instrument linked to the storms that occur in its atmosphere, this happened for the first time on that date.
Orbit of the Planet Saturn
El Planet Saturn goes around the Sun with an average distance of one thousand four hundred and eighteen million kilometers and the Orbit of eccentricity is 0,056, the location of the point that is farthest from the Sun with respect to Saturn (aphelion) is one thousand five hundred million kilometers, and the perihelion is about one thousand two hundred and forty million kilometers. Saturn was located at perihelion in the year 1974.
The time to go around the Sun is about 29 years and 167 days, and the synodic period (which is the time it takes to go around and meet at the same point) is 378 days, this means that it lasts an Earth year, the contrast originates with a delay of almost two weeks with reference to the previous year.
The period of rotation about its central point is short, about ten hours and fourteen minutes, there are always some variations with the equator and the poles.
The orbital units of Saturn are variable with a scale of nine hundred years due to an orbital resonance of type 5:2 with respect to the planet of Jupiter, the French astronomers of the eighteenth century gave it the name of "la grande inégalité" (Jupiter makes five revolutions for every two revolutions made by Saturn).
The planets do not have an exact resonance, these resonances are almost always similar for the disturbances to be appreciated.
Satellites of the Planet Saturn
The planet has many satellites, a total of about eighty-two with normal orbits, updated in 2019, the most important satellite being the "Titan" which has a system with an atmosphere of great importance.
The largest satellites, which are known before space research began, are Minas, Tethys, Enceladus, Dione, Titan, Rhea, Iapetus, Hyperion, Phoebe.
In the case of Enceladus and Titan, they are the two preferred satellites for scientists, the first because it is thought that the theory that liquid water is found on it not far from the surface, above the emission of water vapors, is viable. in geysers and the second, in which there is the presence of an atmosphere rich in methane and is very similar to that of the ancient Earth.
The rest of the satellites, a total of thirty, also have names, although the number is doubtful because there are many elements that are orbiting near the planet. In 2000 about twelve more were included.
These twelve moons according to their orbits are seen as pieces of larger elements that were attracted to the planet. In the Cassini-Huygens mission they have also found several moons, the last finding was released on March 3, 2009 and that makes the number 61 of the planet.
The supposed ring of the Titan, which is not clear at all, is an orange circumference with a darker edge, it can be seen from a non-professional telescope, with only 200mm aperture, requiring about three hundred magnification and clear skies. The closest that can be measured may be about 0,88 seconds of arc.
The other satellites are smaller and have a similarity to stars. The satellites that are inside can be observed, even with a CCD camera using focuses with more than 2m.
Satellite Classification
- Titan: It is the largest moon, it has a size similar to a planet, in this case equivalent to the size of Mercury. Its atmosphere is thick. It has the characteristic of having clear rings which can be seen by anyone who likes to see planets, stars and satellites, with a telescope that is greater than 200mm in diameter and with a magnification greater than three hundred; in his best oppositions he can have a measurement of about 0,88 seconds in his arc.
- Frozen medium satellites: They are the moons that have a medium size, these moons were seen for the first time through a telescope, the group is made up of: Mimas, Tethys, Enceladus, Rhea, Dione, Iapetus and Hyperion. The surfaces of all are covered with ice, and have many craters.
- Ring Satellites: These are the moons that are orbiting within the planet's disks, they keep the regions clear of matter. An example is Pan, who supports Encke's division. There is another small moon, Daphne (S2005 S 1), which is given the responsibility of doing the Keeler split.
- Satellites Pastors: They are the moons that have orbits close to the system in the rings of Saturn and collaborate with modeling the structure of the rings. Pandora and Prometheus are in charge of modeling the F ring.
- Trojan Moons: These moons make their orbits sharing distances with the planet, they have a difference of about sixty degrees between them and the larger moons. There are "Calypso and Telesto" are Trojan moons of the moon "Tetis", "Pollux and Helena" that have not been discovered for long, by the Cassini-Huygens mission, are Trojans of the moon Dione.
- Coorbital Moons: They are the moons that share their orbit between them, in this group are "Epimetheus and Janus", when they were discovered there was something confusing, the scientists thought it was just a satellite, in the orbital dynamics they make a kind of change between them to to avoid colliding.
- Irregular Moons: In this set are the majority, the moon that has the largest size is "Febe"; the remaining moons are small, not many kilometers in diameter, orbiting far from the planet. This set can be divided into subgroups, such as the Inuit set, the Norse set, and the Galic set.
- Minor inner moons: They are the small moons that orbit between the moons Mimas and Enceladus, are Palene and Metone, recently discovered by the Cassini-Huygens mission. Due to the collaboration of this mission, several findings have been made, such as the arc of disks that orbit close to these moons, such as Metone and Anthe, the cause may be due to possible collisions of some meteorites on these moons.
The Nameless Moons
When a moon is discovered, it is always given a provisional name while the name is assigned by the International Astronomical Union. They are always governed by some rules:
- It is assigned a capital "S" that gives the symbology of "satellite".
- Then the slash "/" and the year of its discovery follows.
- The initial of the name of the planet where it is orbiting is appended; For example, if it orbits Saturn, the "S" is always capitalized.
- The description ends with the ordinal numbering of the date that was found, placing the year. Example: S/2006 S 14, means that it is the 14th satellite found in 2006.
Ring Systems of the Planet
One of the most outstanding properties of the Planet Saturn are its rings, which was a source of astonishment for the first scientists and curious people who came to visualize it, as is the case with Galileo. That he did not have a telescope with the capabilities to clearly distinguish what was on the sides of Saturn, imagining that the planet was accompanied by two elements on each side.
Several years passed, it was when they were able to see clearly that there were two rings on each side, Galileo was surprised to learn of the disappearance of the objects that were next to the planet. Then Christiaan Huygens in the year 1659, had a telescope with more power.
I manage to visualize the rings of the planet, these expand through the equatorial area of Saturn from 6.730 to 120.700 kilometers above the equator of the planet and the content of these rings are grains accompanied by a large amount of cold water.
The dimensions of the grains vary from microscopic to one meter stones.
The large amount of "irradiation" that is reflected on the surface in relation to the "radiation" that falls on this area, is the "albedo", which is found in the rings, showing that they are recent in relation to the time that has passed. and the way How did the solar system form.
In the beginning, I imagined that these rings were unstable, this was believed for a long time, perhaps for millions of years, there is another fact discovered not long ago, the Cassini probes calculate that the rings are much older than those estimated until then.
These rings have a complicated orbital operation, releasing density waves, as well as exchanges with the planet's satellites, especially with the satellites called shepherds. As they sit flush with the inside of the “Roche”, the hoops are prevented from developing and forming as an upper body.
The rings are divided into areas with a high amount and less amount of content density, leaving evident partitions in the areas. The most important rings exist and are called A and B, separated by the Cassini partition. In the inner area of ring B you can see another ring that is lighter but wider: C and this is another lighter and thinner ring: D.
In the outer zone it is possible to see a fine and fragile ring which bears the name of ring F. The subtle ring E goes from "Mimas" to "Rhea" and reaches the highest density near "Enceladus", it being understood that this supplies it with particles, because of the samples of some geysers that are located in the South Pole.
Until the XNUMXs, the constitution of the rings was exposed through the gravitational impulses that are manifested by the closest satellites.
The Voyager probes discovered the radial and shadowy constitution that is located in the B ring and has the name radial wedges or spokes, which had no explanation, because the rotational movement that surrounds the rings was not permanent with the orbital mechanism.
It is understood that these shadowy clusters are related to the magnetic zone of Saturn, because their rotation movement towards the rings had a speed similar to the speed of the planet's magnetosphere. Although the system that punctuated its process has not been identified. There is a probability that the wedges will show up and disperse in a stationary way.
In 2005, on August 15, the materials that were inside the Cassini spacecraft brought to light the existence of a sample similar to the atmosphere surrounding the ring system, made up mostly of molecular oxygen.
With this information, a conclusion was reached: the atmosphere that is in the planet's ring system is very similar to that on Jupiter's moons, named "Europa and Ganymede".
On September 19, 2006, NASA exposed the discovery of another ring in the Planet Saturn, by the Cassini spacecraft in the middle of a solar investigation, it was at the moment that the Sun passed exactly behind Saturn and at that moment the Cassini spacecraft is in the shadow left by Saturn and in that period of time the rings are shown brighter and brighter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJB1xlsLKdA
It is normal for the solar cloak to last an hour, but on September 17 of that year it was for about twelve hours, this has been the longest recorded by the Cassini mission. This occultation allowed Cassini to map the existence of microscopic elements that could not be seen regularly, in the ring system.
The ring that was discovered, little can be seen, is located between Ring F and Ring G.
These coordinates agree with the orbits of the satellites of Saturn "Jano and Epimetheus", they are two co-orbital moons of the planet where the separation with the center of the planet has very small differences in the size of the satellites, which have a kind of dance that makes move in orbits between them.
Scientists at NASA are sure that the collision of meteorites with satellites has caused other matter to join the ring.
Images that were captured by the equipment that are on the Cassini spacecraft discovered a material with low temperature that is found in an area of a few thousand kilometers starting in the "Enceladus", there is other evidence that shows that this satellite launches particles that may be the cause of E ring formation.
The moon "Enceladus" was seen through the E ring seeing the jets that come out of the surface that look like "fingers", which go towards this ring, these jets are made up of very fine cold particles, these are ejected by the geysers found at the South Pole of "Enceladus" and enter the ring E.
"Both the new ring and the unexpected structures in E give us an important clue as to how moons can launch small particles and sculpt their own local environments," said Matt Hedman, a research associate at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
Cassini also managed to capture a color image of the planet Earth, with a proximity of about one thousand five hundred million kilometers in distance, in this image a celestial globe is seen. There is another image, which was captured in the same event, where you can see the Moon.
The person who coordinates the group that manages the equipment of the Cassini probe, is called Carolyn Porco, from the Institute of Space Sciences in Boulder, Colorado, commented on this occasion:
"Nothing has as much power to alter our perspective of ourselves and our place in the cosmos as those images of Earth that we get from places as far away as Saturn."
On October 24, 2007, NASA reported the discovery of a kind of micromoon belt flush with the outer part of ring A and the measurements were different, calculating that its similarity in size was that of a truck of few measurements, even a measure that was similar to that of a stadium, they say it may be due to the loss of one of the small satellites.
The Spitzer Space Telescope reveals a large ring around Saturn, which is larger than the other rings around it. It took several centuries to be discovered, since it is so strange that it is not easy to see.
The newest belt spans the entire Saturnian system. With a mass that starts six million kilometers from Saturn and folds up to thirteen million kilometers from its diameter. The moon that is farthest from the planet, "Phebe", which orbits inside the ring, may be the origin of its structure.
Saturn's Magnetosphere
Jupiter has a stronger magnetic field than Saturn's field, the magnetosphere of this planet is about a third of that of Jupiter. Saturn has a magnetosphere that contains a group of toroidal radiation belts and inside it are electrons and atomic nuclei.
These belts are spread out approximately at a distance of two million kilometers from the center of Saturn, and it is possible that it is a little more, they go in the opposite direction to the Sun, the magnetosphere has a size that can vary, it all depends on the intensity of the solar wind (which is the flow of charged particles from the Sun).
Saturn's rings, satellites and the solar wind provide particles that are contained in the radiation belt.
The time to make the rotation is ten hours, thirty-nine minutes and twenty-five seconds in the inner part of Saturn, this measurement was made by Voyager when it passed through the magnetosphere, which turns in a synchronized way with the inner part of Saturn .
The ionosphere interacts with the magnetosphere, the ionosphere is the highest mantle of the planet's atmosphere, causing auroral displays of ultraviolet radiation; analyzes that have been carried out and say that in the north pole area specifically there is a ring with minor auroras as is the case of Jupiter or on Earth that there is a single giant aurora with the shape of a ring.
Going around the orbit of Titan, and extending to the orbit of "Rhea", a large toroidal cloudiness composed of neutral hydrogen atoms can be seen. There is also a ring of plasma, which contains hydrogen and perhaps oxygen ions, stretching from just outside the orbit of "Tethys" and nearly reaching the orbit of "Titan." The plasma spins almost perfectly in sync with Saturn's magnetic field.
Observations of the Planet Saturn
Saturn is easy to see, it is easy to see from anywhere on high at any time and its rings can be seen with a simple telescope.
It is displayed exactly at the moment that the angular distance from the Sun (elongation) of one hundred and eighty degrees is made, this makes it appear that it is on the opposite side of the Sun in space.
On January 13, 2005, the planet was seen with a limit which will be difficult to visualize again, only in 2031, due to the orientation of the rings in relation to the Earth.
Saturn can be seen at any time, at night with a clear sky, it is seen as a point that is illuminated, without blinking, a bright yellow light, its magnitude can vary from +1 to 0, to perform the return to the Sun takes about twenty-nine and a half years.
With the help of a telescope, binoculars or any device that helps to observe, at least 20x you can clearly see the rings of Saturn.
Important dates in the observation and exploration of Saturn
- 1610: Galileo observes through his telescope the rings of Saturn.
- 1655: Titan was found by the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens.
- 1659: Christiaan Huygens visualized the rings of Saturn with great clarity and described their true appearance.
- 1789: The moons Mimas and Enceladus are seen for the first time, by William Herschel.
- 1979: Overflight by Pioneer 11. On September 1, 1979, the US probe Pioneer 11 approached a distance of 20,000 km from the highest clouds.
- 1980: Accelerated by Jupiter's gravitational field, Voyager 1 reached Saturn on November 12 at a distance of 124 km. At this time, the complex structures in the planet's ring system were seen and data was obtained from the atmosphere of Saturn and its largest satellite, Titan, from which it passed less than 200 km.
- 1982: Voyager 2 approaches Saturn.
- 2004: Cassini/Huygens reaches Saturn. It became the first vehicle to orbit the distant world and come close to its hoops. The space mission is scheduled to end in 2017.
- 2009: Thanks to the Spitzer Space Telescope, another ring is discovered surrounding Saturn, which was invisible from Earth and which, in turn, is the largest in the solar system.
- 2017: The Cassini/Huygens probe entered passing between the planet and its closest ring with a speed of 124.000 kilometers per hour. Across the planet and its nearest rim is a distance of approximately 2.000 kilometers. This happened in the fourth month of the year 2017. For this, he had to disconnect from Earth, resuming the connection about 20 hours later. This happened in the first 22 planned close encounters.
Saturn in Different Cultures
- Regarding religion in India: They have 9 planets, with the names Navagrahas. Saturn is called "Sani or Shani", he is the Judge before every planetary system, he is in charge of determining each one according to what has been done, whether good or bad.
- In Chinese and Japanese culture: They name Saturn as a star of the earth, representing the traditional east, which uses five elements for the classification of natural elements.
- in the Hebrew culture: Saturn is called Shabbathai. Having Cassiel as Angel. With intelligence, or beneficial spirit, they are Agiel (layga), and their spirit (the darkest countenance) is Zazel (Izaz).
- In Turkish and Malay Culture: The name used is Zuhal, taken from the Arabic زحل.
- In Greek culture: It is known by the name of Φαίνων.