Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun andsecond in size. He conceded the championship to Jupiter, but this did not prevent him from evoking keen interest among astrophysicists. Saturn - the flattest planet of our solar system, is characterized by incredible beauty, which is complemented by unsuited rings. The latter are interested in astrophysicists not less than the giant itself.
The desire to thoroughly explore this planet has long beendisturbed scientists. Research continues to this day. Now this process is simplified by modern, more powerful devices. Today we will find out how old Saturn and his rings are, and also find out interesting facts about this planet and several of its most unusual satellites.
Who first discovered Saturn is hard to say.Even the ancient people watched him. But first Saturn saw in the telescope Galileo, which the ring system of the planet, because of the imperfection of the apparatus, seemed strange protrusions. Moreover, after a few years, once again looking at Saturn, he did not see these projections.
Interesting fact! Saturn is one of the five planets that can be seen with the naked eye from Earth. To an idle observer, he will seem like a large, bright star.
The name of the planet comes from the name of the patron of the crop in Roman mythology. By the way, it was Jupiter who was the father of Saturn. After all, both of these planets are similar in size and composition.
Also the word "Saturn" has one root with the English word Saturday (Saturday).
Since 2004, Saturn has been the object of observation.interplanetary station "Cassini", which regularly provides new information about the planet. It is truly unique, because the interest of researchers to it is quite understandable.
Saturn is inferior in size only to Jupiter andsignificantly exceeds our Earth in volume (more precisely, 95 times). But on Saturn, as on Earth, there are seasons, and at the North Pole the northern lights sometimes appear. Perhaps this is the only similarity of such different planets. During the seasons, the color of the planet changes.
Saturn is considered a gas giant, as are Neptune, Uranus and Jupiter. This is due to the lack of a solid surface on it. Hydrogen and helium predominate in the atmosphere.
Interesting fact! Since the gas giant is mainly composed of hydrogen and helium, its density is lower than the density of water. That is, if it were reduced in size and placed in the bathroom, it would float in water.
В его нижней области находятся следы водяного ice The temperature can drop to -150 degrees, which makes Saturn one of the least friendly planets. However, some of his companions, as scientists have found, are more suitable for life.
On the speed of rotation Saturn is second onlyJupiter, making a turn in 10.5 hours. But the so-called "Saturn period" (the cycle of its revolution around the Sun) is 30 years. That is, after 30 years, Saturn returns to the same position in heaven as it was at birth. Astrologers say that this line is very important in the life of everyone. Drastic changes can affect every aspect of life.
Also in the atmosphere of Saturn there are yellow and beige stripes - these are winds, the speed of which sometimes reaches 1800 km / h. Their speed is due to the rapid rotation of Saturn.
The age of Saturn, according to scientists, is 4.6 billion years.
According to one theory, all the planets of the Solarsystems formed at the same time. About 100 billion years ago, the Galaxy was filled with remnants of ancient stars - particles of gas, dust and heavy metals. It is these "materials" and became the basis of our solar system. This process probably took more than 200 million years.
However, scientists are increasingly beginning to doubtown theories. After all, today it is known that the planets outside the solar system are distinguished by a huge variety of shapes, colors, axial tilts. They refute any theory of the birth of planets, which were put forward earlier.
So, according to another version, the age of Saturn is 21 billion years. How did you calculate the age of the planet Saturn? This figure was obtained from the calculation of its density.
The thing is that the age of the planet is determinedby studying rocks taken from the upper layer of the space giant, as well as estimating the solar neutrino, etc. However, if a celestial body consists of layers that overlap each other, then the upper layer is only the tip of the iceberg. This theory suggests that it is impossible to accurately determine the age of Saturn (and the planets of the solar system as a whole). However, the calculation of the density allows us to give approximate figures.
Scientists pay close attention not only to Saturn, but also to its “accompaniment” - rings and satellites. The age of Saturn's rings is especially interesting for astrophysicists.
Rings are clumps of iceand stone, whose diameter is hundreds of thousands of kilometers. Their thickness varies from ten meters to several kilometers. Moreover, on some rings, quite recently ... mountains were discovered! So called thickened areas of the rings. As it turned out, these mountains can reach a height of 3 km.
Since the rings of Saturn, for the most part, were formed from opaque ice, this explains why they are so clearly visible through a telescope, because ice has a high sun-reflecting ability.
Later, ice polluted the remains of cosmic bodies, which were attracted, and then destroyed the giant magnetic field of the planet, stretching over 1,000,000 km. It could be asteroids, comets, meteors, moons.
Externally, this gas giant's rings are unique andincredibly beautiful. Saturn is surrounded by thousands of rings of different sizes and colors. They are incredibly diverse and numerous, but the reasons for this diversity are still unknown.
The age of the rings, which was determined completelyrecently ranges from 100 to 200 million years. That is, they are much younger than the planet itself and, most importantly, much younger than the researchers thought before. However, these numbers are inaccurate. The fact is that the exact composition of the rings is unknown, and without these details it is impossible to identify their exact age.
Scientists believe that gas giant ringsare separate particles that rotate freely around it, retaining the ring shape only due to gravity. Moreover, these particles can be both microscopic and the size of whole mansions. It is noteworthy that, reaching the size of the house, they cease to "grow." How to explain it? Scientists are still asking this question.
Sometimes it seems that the planet suddenly lostrings. It was the fact of their disappearance in the distant 1610 that Galileo Galilei perplexed. However, in fact, they do not disappear, but only become less noticeable due to the inclination of the plane. True, scientists are confident that soon the rings of Saturn will simply dissipate.
In all, Saturn was visited by only 4 vehicles, the lastof which, Cassini for more than 10 years has regularly sent information about the planet to Earth. And while working with Voyager-1 and Voyager-2, scientists recorded an interesting fact - when the vehicles approached, the rings of Saturn emitted short radio pulses every 10 hours, as if greeting newcomers. Ufologists immediately started talking about aliens on Saturn, but over the years, their assumptions have not been confirmed.
У Сатурна, астрологические исследования more than 150 satellites confirm this. Each of them has an icy surface. The most interesting of them is Enceladus - the first of the open satellites of the planet. Scientists believe that under the ice crust hides the ocean of water. The theory emerged after we managed to get salt water with organic molecules at the south pole of Enceladus. These are chemicals necessary for life. Alas, the assumption that in the deep ocean of Enceladus life can be, until you can not verify. No less promising for the emergence of a new life is also Europe, the satellite of Jupiter, and Mars.
Titan is the largest satellite of Saturn and the second largest of the moons of our solar system. His "outgrown" only satellite of Jupiter - Ganymede. The study of this cosmic body is especially interesting for scientists.
First of all, he is surprisedatmosphere, because all the other satellites of the solar system are atmosphereless due to the absence of gravity. It consists of nitrogen and has a high density. Today, Titan is a cold planet, which gets 100 times less sunlight than on our Earth. Scientists believe that once our Earth looked exactly like Titan.
Thanks to modern devices, researchersmanaged to see the surface of Titan. It turned out to be similar to the surface of the Earth - mountains, plains, lakes, seas. However, the fluids on Titan's surface are methane and other, more complex substances. Water is present in the gaseous, in the liquid and in the solid state. Despite the general similarity, the satellite landscape is very different from the landscape of our planet.
Today we reviewed the most beautiful and unusualthe planet (of course, not counting our earth) of the solar system. We learned what age the planet Saturn and its rings, what are its features. This unique giant still raises many questions from astrophysicists. And once, they are sure of it, the answers to the questions will be received. In the meantime, Saturn's research continues ...