Interesting Saturn Facts & Information for Kids
Our solar system was formed 5,000 million years ago. It is about 15,000 million km wide. It consists of nine planets, namely Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and the dwarf planet Pluto. It also has moons and millions of asteroids and comets. The Sun is the largest of all and is located at the centre of the solar system. It is because of the Sun’s pull that all the planets are held together. Saturn is one of the most beautiful planets among others and the 6th planet from the Sun. Let us look at a few interesting facts about planet Saturn below:
10 Interesting Facts about Saturn
Here are some fun facts about Saturn for kids:
- Saturn is the 2nd largest planet in our solar system after Jupiter and 9 times wider than Earth.
- Saturn is a gas planet. It is one of the four planets that are called ‘Jovian Planets’ because they are made up of gas. Saturn’s core is rocky and may be covered in liquid gas, studies say.
- Saturn’s rings are made up of millions of ice crystals, some very big and others as small as specks of dust.
- Saturn is made up of hydrogen and helium which makes it incredibly light. So much so, that it would float in a bathtub; that is if you managed to find a big enough tub for it!
- Saturn’s atmosphere is not always calm. There are storm winds travelling at 1,800 km/h present on the planet.
- Saturn has a very strong magnetic field as compared to Earth. This means that it has a high level of radiation because it is known to trap particles that have high energy in its atmosphere.
- Saturn has a total of 62 moons. Titan is Saturn’s largest moon and is also the second largest moon in the solar system after Jupiter’s moon Ganymede.
- Saturn weighs 95 times more than Earth. That is one heavy planet!
- Saturn is at a distance of 1,426,000 km from the Sun. The planet takes 29 ½ years to orbit around the Sun. This means that one year on Saturn is equal to 29 ½ Earth years.
- Saturn is so big that you can fit 760 Earth-sized planets into it.
4 Facts About Saturn’s Rings
Saturn is popular for its beautiful rings and your introduction of the planet to your kid will be incomplete without a few facts about its rings. Here are some interesting facts exclusively about Saturn rings for kids:
- Saturn has 7 layers of rings.
- Galileo first saw the rings in 1610 through a telescope.
- Some of the Saturn rings are about 242,000 miles in diameter and some are really small at only a couple of hundred meters thick.
- Sometimes, the rings of Saturn gradually disappear because of the tilt of Saturn till they become invisible from Earth. Every 14 years, the rings look like they’ve just gone.
When astronauts and scientists find out more about the awesome rings and this planet, we would know a lot more than we know today. Although it is too far away to be explored properly, we hope Man will be able to do it in future.
Also Read:
Fun Moon Facts for Kids
Incredible Facts About Space for Children
Interesting and Fun Science Facts for Kids
