Saturn, the second-largest planet in the solar system, is a gas giant with a ringed interior composed of simple molecules like hydrogen and helium. Its interior is composed of a rocky core, surrounded by a deep layer of metallic hydrogen, an intermediate layer of liquid hydrogen and liquid helium, and an outer layer of gas.
Saturn’s interior is composed of different layers with varying densities and compositions. The outermost layer is a thick atmosphere of mainly hydrogen. As a gas giant, it lacks a solid surface like Earth does, making it difficult to stand on. Standard interior models of Jupiter and Saturn include three main regions: the central region (core) consisting of heavy elements, an inner metallic layer, and a gaseous molecular hydrogen envelope.
Saturn’s interior is primarily composed of simple molecules such as hydrogen and helium, which are liquids under high pressure environments found in its interiors. At the core lies a hot interior, with the most extensive rings in the solar system. Saturnian rings are mostly made of chunks of ice and small amounts of carbonaceous dust.
Saturn has been known since ancient times and is the farthest planet from Earth discovered by the unaided human eye. Recent results in the Cassini era have provided insights into Saturn’s interior structure and thermal evolution.
📹 Saturn 101 | National Geographic
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What are the interiors of Saturn?
The illustration depicts the interior of Saturn, including its core, which is composed of heavy elements, a layer of liquid metallic hydrogen, and an envelope of gaseous molecular hydrogen. It is hypothesised that the planet’s magnetic field has its origin in the metallic hydrogen layer.
Does Kepler-452b have water?
The study reveals that several planets, including Proxima Centauri b, Ross 128 b, Teegarden’s b and c, GJ 1061 c and d, and TRAPPIST-1 e, may have an extended liquid water reservoir. The exoplanets Kepler-62 f, Kepler-1652 b, Kepler-452 b, and Kepler-442 b have extremely high H2O-content, suggesting they may maintain a water vapour atmosphere and may be examples of larger ocean worlds. The study suggests that if new rocky exoplanets are discovered beyond the habitable zone, the study can be extended to icy worlds.
What will be inside the Saturn?
Saturn, a gas giant, is composed mainly of hydrogen and helium, with a dense core of metals like iron and nickel at its center. It is enveloped by liquid metallic hydrogen, similar to Jupiter’s core but smaller. Saturn is the only planet in the solar system with an average density less than water, making it difficult to imagine a colossal planet floating in a bathtub. As a gas giant, Saturn lacks a true surface, with swirling gases and liquids deep down. Spacecraft cannot land on Saturn or fly through it due to extreme pressures and temperatures.
Is there anything solid on Saturn?
Gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn have no solid surfaces, as they are mostly composed of hydrogen at temperatures above the critical point. However, they do have layers, such as a stormy atmosphere of hydrogen, layers of ammonia clouds, sulfide clouds, and water clouds. If a person could survive a dive into Jupiter, they would swim through these layers, eventually settling when the density of the gas around them matches their body.
If they could weigh themselves down, they could sink into a thick layer of metallic hydrogen, where electrons and protons move separately, and the temperature would increase up to about 20, 000 kelvins (35, 000° Fahrenheit).
Is Saturn losing its rings?
Saturn’s rings are disappearing due to gravity pulling ice particles onto the planet. The rings are falling as a dusty ring rain, with only 100 million to 300 million years left. The rings will appear edge-on in March 2025, virtually disappearing from Earth’s sight due to their thinness. Kelly Kizer Whitt, EarthSky’s roving nature reporter on YouTube, writes and edits fascinating stories at EarthSky.
Org and has contributed to Astronomy Magazine, AstronomyToday, and the Sierra Club. She has nine published books, including a children’s picture book, Solar System Forecast, and a young adult dystopian novel, A Different Sky.
What is the interior of the Earth?
Earth is divided into three main layers: the dense inner core, the molten outer core, the mantle, and the thin crust. The core, located about 2, 900 kilometers below Earth’s surface, is the hot, dense center of the planet. Earth was formed around 4. 5 billion years ago as a uniform ball of hot rock. Radioactive decay and leftover heat from planetary formation caused the ball to get even hotter. After 500 million years, Earth’s temperature heated to the melting point of iron, causing the iron catastrophe.
This allowed greater movement of Earth’s molten, rocky material, while buoyant materials like silicates, water, and air stayed close to the planet’s exterior. Droplets of iron, nickel, and other heavy metals gravitated to the center of Earth, becoming the early core. This process is called planetary differentiation.
What are 3 major interior parts of the earth?
The Earth is composed of three principal layers: the crust, the mantle, and the core. The crust represents the outer rock layer, in which humans, animals, and plants reside. The mantle, in contrast, is a semi-solid magma layer comprising iron, magnesium, and silicon.
What is the interior of exoplanets?
There are various types of planets not found in the Solar System, such as low-density “hot Jupiters” and “super-Earths” or “sub-Neptunes”. These planets have interiors that are not represented in the Solar System, such as tiny cores, massive mantles, an ocean surface with no continents, a massive core and mantle, or an ice layer between its mantle and surface.
There are no confirmed examples of these proposed interior structures. However, there are hypotheses about the potential internal structures of some exoplanets, such as GJ-1214b, which has a mass 6. 55 times greater than Earth’s and a radius of 2. 68 times. Three different types of interior makeup have been hypothesized for GJ 1214b: an iron core, a silicate mantle, and an outermost layer of water supporting a thick envelope of hydrogen and helium.
Another hypothesis keeps the iron core and silicate mantle assumption, but eliminates the water outer layer, requiring a thicker hydrogen/helium envelope. A third hypothesis proposes that the planet is mostly water and has a large atmosphere composed mostly of steam.
As more exoplanets are discovered, the range of types of planets also grows, beyond those not seen in the Solar System. Some exoplanets may resemble Earth in radius but are much less dense or denser, while others can resemble Earth in density but have a very different size.
Has anyone been inside Saturn?
The exploration of Saturn has been conducted solely by crewless probes, with three flyby missions and the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft being the most recent. The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, launched in 1997, was in orbit from 2004 to 2017. The first visit to Saturn was by Pioneer 11 in 1979, which flew within 20, 000 kilometers of the planet’s cloud layer. The spacecraft acquired low-resolution images of the planet and its moons, but the resolution was not enough to discern surface features.
The spacecraft also studied the rings, discovering the thin F-ring and the bright dark gaps in the rings when viewed towards the Sun. Additionally, Pioneer 11 measured the temperature of Titan at 250 K.
What is the interior of Saturn?
The center of Saturn is a molten, rocky, metallic core with a temperature of at least 15, 000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hotter than the surface of the Sun.
What are the interiors of planets?
Planetary interior refers to the internal structure of a planet, including the mantle and core, where heat is generated and transferred through processes like convection and thermal diffusion. This influences geological phenomena like volcanism, plate tectonics, and magnetic field generation. ScienceDirect uses cookies and holds copyright for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies. Open access content is licensed under Creative Commons terms.
📹 What Would You See If You Fell Into Saturn? (4K UHD)
Saturn is hiding many mysteries but thanks to a certain spacecraft called Cassini we have an idea of what lurks inside of this …
Imagine living on the surface of one of Saturn’s Moons, and waking up in the morning to see Saturn completely dominating the sky! How absolutely awesome would that be, eh?! It’s cool enough just looking at it through a telescope in the back yard at night, picture looking up, after the Sun has set, and seeing Saturn and its rings taking up like half of the night sky!! 😊👍
A great presentation of facts about Saturn, some of which I didn’t know! I was fascinated with the ringed planet when I was a kid, and a budding amateur astronomer. I wanted to see it myself! So when I was 13, I built a telescope powerful enough to let me see it and its rings. I asked my Dad to buy me one. They were absurdly expensive. I found a kit in the Edmund Scientific catalog for a 12 inch build it yourself Cassegrain reflector. He bought it, and I built it. I spent three months hand grinding the mirror. We sent it back to Edmind to be coated, and when I took it out in the back yard for its maiden voyage, after the first mind blowing look at the moon, my very next target was Saturn, and those rings. I’m not sure if I ever went to bed that night, and I’ve been fascinated with that planet ever since.
Neil DeGrase Tyson says Saturn is his favorite planet in the solar system, while Saturn has to be my favorite planet too, same for Earth and Mars, and Saturn is cool for three reasons: Saturn has rings made out of ice and interesting rock samples crashed from crashed asteroids that got caught in Saturn’s orbit and Saturn’s rings are as wide as a house and Saturn is a gas giant and the second largest planet in the solar system after Jupiter. Saturn has a lot of interesting moons/natural satellites and 146, to be exact including Titan which has an atmosphere and is the farthest place humans from Earth landed space probes on in the Milky Way Galaxy using the Cassini-Huygens in 2004, and Enceladus which has liquid water underneath its frozen oceans just like Jupiter’s moons/natural satellites Europa and Ganymede and Enceladus alongside Europa and Ganymede could therefore be the next possible places in the solar system aside from Mars, Earth and Venus (formerly) to support life. The Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 also flew past Saturn and its moons/natural satellites many times and took photos of the gas giant and its moons and collected data for the astronomers and scientists back on Earth. P.S. the extraterrestrial life that could also be living in the oceans of Mars (In its polar ice caps), Europa, Enceladus and Ganymede could be microbes like Bacteria, viruses, Protozoa and fungi or even tardigrades or sea creature-like aliens that live in oceans, and can thrive in frozen ones.
Dear NAT GEO, the Saturn was known to Indian Scientists since at least 3000 years. And the orbital year as approximately 30 earth years is very clearly mentioned in the ancient Indian scriptures. We call Saturn as SANAISCHARA in Sanskrit, means the slow mover. Because by that time, this is the known, slowest moving planet around the sun, so named accordingly.
Saturn was a dwarf star before it was captured by the Sun. All planets with axial tilt between 23-28 degrees once orbited Saturn. When Sun captured Saturn, it lost its mass and brightness, developed the rings and also lost its planets which now orbit the Sun instead. Big difference between axial tilt is how you know which planets Sun captured. Planets that formed with the Sun have their axial tilts close to the axial tilt of the Sun, same for planets that formed with Saturn.
Saturn Is God has Been in Our Promise after Born Graduation of alot of Universal powers that were Born after that …Is In My Soul Story of the trues that made .Im Waiting For A God Bless From it that I can Keep Forever as a Magical Power Pray For Health-LOve & Power ..Saturn was Born From my Heart I was Born From the Heart of Saturn …Encuentrame …
Thanks for the informative article. However there is one error. Mars is the god of Agriculture (or was at least before he was made into a war god – countrymen make the best warriors). Saturn is depicted as an elderly Deity riding a dragon chariot through the skies and is the same god as Set, the ancient Egyptian god of storms, who was also known as Typhon (where the name Typhoon comes from) and Huracan (where the word hurricane originates) – as the old gods each personified a quality of the natural world, this was Set’s manifestation when angered. Otherwise he was the natural night as contrasted with his nephew, Horus, who symbolizes the daytime and the Sun. The Romans used to celebrate the Saturnalia a festival in honor of Saturn. This was a Roman equivalent to Christmas.
If you could ever believe in ancient Indian’s discovery of thousands years ago. Indian astrology has all the depth knowledge of all the planets. About their character, size, color etc. If any scientist pays attention to the discovery made by the ancient Indian rishis then their most of the works will be done easily. There is still much scope for scientist to get help from Indian astrology.
he is not a jawaeri because he doesn’t understand dd basic of fundamental as the more dimond is always dimond once it get exposure to sun the sun light remain there and even its a part of sun he cant take it back this is how karma works now the móre exposure a dimond gets the more brightside of dimand receive its become worthlessness even between dimond or of its own chategory i guess
Honest question here: Why do some sources, like this article, claim the rings are .66 miles thick, while other sources, like Carolyn Porko herself, claim the rings are literally no more than a hundred or so feet thick? Im just curious if this is a genuine diagreement about the data, a different interpretation of the data, or just a different convention being used.
New article! In 1977, a journey unlike any other began when NASA’s Voyager One and Voyager Two set off on a grand tour of the solar system. Aboard each of the probes is a special golden record containing information about us, our world and our solar system, a kind of time capsule intended to communicate the story of our existence to any extraterrestrials that might come across the probes at some point in the far future. So what do the golden records contain? Check out this article to find out! youtu.be/BZTqS42L9gY
I love these particular articles! The ones of falling into gas giants, even though it would be a terrifying scenario. And speaking of Saturn I dug out the telescope this evening to watch it and Jupiter coming into alignment, it was a magnificent sight seeing the two largest planets coming together all in the same field of view. Jupiter appeared to have a 5th Galilean moon which I think was actually Saturn’s largest moon Titan aligning with the other big moons. It was amazing to see and I’m so happy to have caught it as we will never get a chance to see this conjunction again in our lifetime. I urge everyone to get on out there tomorrow just after sunset to see it! And on the winter solstice of all days. 2020 has not been a great year for obvious reasons but at least it is ending on a somewhat positive note with this. It was spiritually and emotionally uplifting seeing them tonight. The best things in life really are free. Anyway I’ll stop rambling now 😂
I cannot thank you enough for providing answers to people’s curiosity of wanting to know what it’s like inside our gas giants and ice giants. To see and have an idea or possibly experience🚀 what it’s like inside🛸 our celestial bodies besides Earth🌎. Trying to go into these celestial bodies is a suicide mission they’re nothing like planet Earth however humans have a curiosity but thanks to knowledge, technology and studying you have successfully visualize what it’s like to go down these gas giants. Again thank U💯
Fun fact: the rings of Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune used to look the exact same as Saturn’s rings many years ago but it’s just that the rings of those 3 planets got too old after so many years and started fainting. The rings of Saturn were born WAYYYY after the rings of the other gas giants so that means they are younger. But the same thing will happen to Saturn’s rings somewhere in the year 3021
I really like these articles. I thank my dad for my love of space and science. That’s his thing and he’s always been excited to share it with me. He would love to experience this stuff in your hypothetical space suite! Oh and I love that the helmet cracks at the end of all these articles 😆 nice touch! Always makes me smirk 😊
This is just extrapolation for the most part as the actual original probes wouldn’t have got below the 1770kmhr wind layer. That would be equivalent to getting wind sheared by falling ice shelves, the probe equipment would be lost in the first ‘Bump’ even if the probe pod/fuselage was made of some exotic Unobtainium. The rock in the middle seems a bitt like chewing gum on the floor of a supermarket. I bet you could describe that gum as exotic too.
Great article, but I have a serious problem with a part of it! The part where you enter the water-ice clouds, is approximately 10 atmospheres, so I doubt you’d see these types of “fluffy, wispy” clouds at this layer. The compression from the above layers would condense these clouds into a thick, watery soup! Nowhere near the almost Earth-like trip you show here…and I know this being an old school skydiver! I’ve fallen thru a few clouds in my day, but at 10 atmospheres, this visualization is not accurate I believe. Cheers!
Hydrogen under extreme pressure expands cold resistance into its nucleus to equalize the pressure exerted on it, causing it to expand into helium. Black holes can’t exceed resistance within it. The occupational space of mass is equal to resistance within it. Quatum magnetic fields are redirected trajectories of thermaldynamics into cycling circulation patterns of magnetic fields as mass. Density can’t exceed resistance within it as occupational space. Bubbles of resistance are devoid of thermaldynamics. Pure resistance generates thermal energy singularities spiraling throughout space as space itself. Mass occupies space. Space is cold resistance needed for equalization to pressure of mass. Hydrogen expands into helium. More pressure exerted within,more repulsion equalization of resistance. More space itself as resistance to pressure within mass. Contained pressure in resistance is the weight of pressure within mass as weight in repulsion. Spheres are proof of pressure in resistance to cold space itself. Pressure is the cosmic speed limit. Light is in resistance to atmospheres. Distance is reduced by entanglement. Mass falls in equalization to resistance as pressure in and out of entanglement is always equal to occupational space. Atoms are micro galaxies and are in occupational space of resistance within and without entanglement. Distance is reduced by redirected trajectories of thermaldynamics cycling circulation in mass.
how funny will it be when in the 25th century we have the tech to do space travel to these type of enviroments only to find out it was all just speculation? i can see it now. random 25th century commenter “this article is sooooo outdated” and of course, someone will retort “this was posted in 2019 dude…”
i swear to god why is saturn so beautiful and pretty yet also terrifying, same with HD 189733b, once you land on the planet your just hit with shards of glass, SIDEWAYS, at in pretty sure 5,400 mph, you cant hear a thing neither can anybody hear your screams of terror because of the loud howling winds.
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