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Saturn

Saturn is the sixth planet of our Solar System. Its completes an orbit around the Sun in 29.5 years, while it turns around itself in just 10 hours, giving it a particular flattened shape as if someone has compressed it at the poles. It has a small solid core of ice and other heavy elements surrounded by an amount of metallic hydrogen which is also responsible for the strong bipolar magnetic field of the planet. Outside the core there is an area where it ends up on the surface we see, which starts with liquid hydrogen and then with gas hydrogen. In that area, where hydrogen gas is 200 kilometers thick, there are also the clouds of Saturn.

 

 

 

Because of its rapid rotation the clouds in its atmosphere have formed zones where storms occur due to upward currents. The winds in Saturn are among the most powerful in the Solar System and reach a velocity of 500 kilometers per hour. At the north pole, there is the Saturn’s hexagon which is a hexagonal formation of clouds the sides of which are bigger than the diameter of Earth
(https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/science/saturn/hexagon-in-motion/).

Saturn is the only planet in the Solar System that has a density less than the density of water. To find its density, divide the mass by the volume of the planet.


The main characteristic of Saturn is its beautiful rings and one of its satellites, Titan, which is the only known satellite with atmosphere.

 

 

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