Weekly Planet Discussion: Saturn!

[Maji]

Posting this on Saturday, as Saturday is named after Saturn

And now that we're doing this (as Uranus and Neptune were not around when naming the days of the week), I'm doing this for the other planets:

Jupiter - Thursday (Thor's Day) Thor -> Jupiter/Zeus

Mars - Tuesday (Tyr's Day) Tyr -> Mars

Venus - Friday (Freya's Day) Freya -> Venus

Mercury - Wednesday (Odin's Day) Odin -> Mercury*

And if you're really interested/didn't know:

Sunday (Sol's Day) Sol -> Sol (both have the same name)

Monday (Mani's Day) Mani -> Diane/Luna

The days of the week are named after Norse gods! Of course, it's weird to translate Odin to Mercury, but other than that, it works out fine. Of course, if you're French, it's 150% easier, as the days of the week are just named after planets, minus Sunday.

*Although nowhere as similar as the other gods, people like to match Odin with Mercury, as they both were known to guide dead souls to the afterlife.

Also, Uranus thread was a success, thanks to all of you who participated, and the poll was also very varied, which is interesting, and I loved it.

[spoiler=Disclaimer]I am no astronomer. merely a fan of space. If I say something dumb, incorrect, or outright out of this world [solar system], you reserve the right to call me out on it, so I can learn about proper shit and be smarter, cause that's what we all aim to do, right?

But enough of an old man's ramblings, on to the bling on the solar system:

General Riff-Raff

Saturn, one of the planets in classical astrology and originally thought to be the planet furthest from the sun, as well as my second favourite planet! Saturn is known to be shaped sort of, not really like a lemon on its side with sort of flat poles, but a bulging equator, much like the other gas giants, although Saturn is the most extreme when it comes to this. From reading Isaac Asimov, this is because Saturn spins so fast (its day is a mere ~ten hours) that the gas acts like clothes in a washing machine, spinning all the clothes/gas to the side. Its winds are the second most windy in the solar system, reaching up to 1,800km/h, because much like Neptune, it has lots of room for the core to meet the cool outer space air, but being closer to the sun, the cold air isn't as cold as the air at Neptune, therefore not as much wind is created. Although its composition is nowhere near as interesting as Uranus or Neptune's, composed 96% of Hydrogen, it causes one to question, if H reflects as purple, why is Saturn gold? Although, personally, it would be pretty awesome to have a purple planet, no one really knows why Saturn is gold, although Helium gives off a orange-red hue, which might help, but with 3% of it in Saturn, it's doubtful that that 3% can dominate the colour of Saturn. It's interesting to note that because H is such a lightweight element, Saturn itself is a very light planet, and could possibly float up top an ocean if there was one big enough to host the solar system's second biggest planet . It's main feature, and the one thing that makes it memorable among children when they are studying planetary sciences (or me in grade 3) is its wonderful rings. Although the rings are a tinted gold colour, the rings are actually (mostly) composed of water ice. Although these days, Saturn is not only a hotspot for people in general just because of its rings, but because of two moons in its orbit that are a scientist's greatest dream, Enceladus and Titan who will be covered later on.

Myths n' Shit

Alrighty then, so let's get to the question that you've all been wondering: why does Saturn have rings, and all the inner planets do not? Two theories in particular:

1.) Being outer planets, their part time job, other than being beautiful is to scoop up space debris from smashing into Earth. So in time, Saturn scooped up so much debris that it now orbits around Saturn as a ring system. If so, why doesn't Jupiter have magnificent rings then? After all, Jupiter IS THE planet who protects Earth the most.

2.) So therefore, the second theory that a moon crashed into Saturn, but disintegrated in its massive atmosphere and is now particles of water ice orbiting Saturn is the most accepted theory. This theory helps perpetuate the legend of Uranus getting slammed too, as something crashed into it too, albeit much harder than Saturn.

Sightseeing on Saturn

Of course, you can always go to the busy rings and take a sample of Saturn ice home, or watch the simply magnificent storm clouds that form on Saturn and are easily visible against the otherwise uniform bands of Saturn. Why do that though when you can go to its moon, which many believe to be the most interesting moons in the solar system?

Titan- The second biggest moon in the solar system, and the only known moon with an atmosphere. Although it's even more interesting to know that Titan has lakes and rain on it! Yes, you heard right, lakes and rain! Lakes of propane and methane precipitation. Also, much like Triton, Titan has volcanic activity, although it spews water/ammonia lava. So one wouldn't burn themselves if one got caught in the lava, they'd freeze to death. In many ways, Titan is much like Earth, only with a different system, Earth uses water, Titan uses other forms of liquid, and is in the deep freeze, while Earth is on the table.

Enceladus- You thought Titan was interesting? Wait until you hear about Enceladus! While Europa is believed to have an ocean underneath its ice cover, Enceladus has liquid water literally spewing out of it into outer space as seen from the Huygens spacecraft! Therefore, if Enceladus is warm enough to have water at its surface, one can begin to imagine how easy it is to have a warm mantle, making life to exist on Enceladus almost to be positive as thought by most scientists.

Other things you can see on Saturn is the aurora from the solar winds, as Saturn's magnetosphere, and the colour of the planet itself is known to give a spectacular display of it at the poles. In fact, Saturn is second place when it comes to who gives off a beautiful display of the aurora. For such a planet to be so far from the sun, and reflect the solar winds is truly impressive.

Conclusion

So Saturn, a golden sphere in outer space who has two moons definitely worth looking into. Perhaps in the far future when man has gills, we'll live in Enceladus? Or maybe we'll learn to live off of propane, methane and ammonia and go live on Titan? Either way, to be able to live on a world with such a beautiful sphere in the sky would truly be inspiring.

(Bring your headphones in, kids. The score reads P, Adagio at the start.)

Although I really do love this composition, I feel it doesn't capture Saturn's very much so lively atmosphere. Indeed, the god, Saturnus brings old age and time, which is reflected by the repeating flute line, I feel this is geared more towards the god itself rather than the planet.

Edited August 4, 2012 by Maji

[buttmuncher.ops]

sailor saturn is too cute in the video gaymes

she does mad work with that scythe

[Bluedoom]

*thumbs up*

Saturn, although not blue(and my username tells you my fav color) is a brilliant gold and its rings really are beautiful. Plus its my birth planet, what's not to appreciate about it? :)

[Phoenix Wright]

My second favorite planet as well.

The three most interesting things about Saturn are indeed its color and it's ability to float in an ocean [big enough] of water. But also, an interesting fact is that in a couple hundred million (or billion, can't remember), Saturn will no longer have its beautiful rings. Too much of the astro-dust floating around it will be gone.

[Aquilae]

From what I've read, Saturn's colouration isn't caused by Helium, but by chemical reactions happening in the upper layer. The upper layers are composed of ammonia ice followed by ammonium hydrosulfide ice, the former which provides the golden colour for the planet.

Saturn's rings are my favourite part of the planet by far because of all the interesting things about them. They're all composed of individual particles because they're so close to the planet, and as such the gravitational force it exerts on them will overcome any gravitational force holding the particles together. If any moon gets too close to Saturn, it will literally be ripped apart and the fragments will be spread out in the shape of a ring orbiting Saturn. However, there are many conflicting theories regarding the formation of Saturn's rings. It may not necessarily be because of a moon going too close to Saturn, it could be leftover material from the formation of the planet or bits of moon chipped off by comets.

Another cool fact is that there are divisions in the rings caused by the gravitational pulls of the moons orbiting Saturn. At the Cassini Division, a large gap in the rings, particles orbiting the planet are in a 2:1 orbital resonance with Mimas, one of Saturn's moons. (that means that they orbit Saturn twice in the time it takes for Mimas to orbit Saturn once) Since they pass by Mimas at frequently and at specific intervals, they get pulled out of orbit and assume another orbit with a higher radius. For particles at other distances from Saturn, they aren't in orbital resonance with Mimas, and pass by only occasionally and aren't really affected by its gravitational pull.

Enceladus is a very interesting moon. It has volcanoes that spew water instead of lava, and the lava flows freeze over when the activity stops. This creates a layer of ice crystals on the moon which makes it really reflective. The ice particles it spews out also replenishes one of Saturn's rings, the E Ring which is located furthest from Saturn.

Also interesting is three of Saturn's moons, Calypso, Tethys and Telesto which share the same orbit and orbital period. Tethys is 60^o forward of Calypso, Telesto is also located 60^o along the orbit compared to Calypso. They occupy special spots called Lagrangian points, where a body can share the same orbital period as another body even when subject to the gravity of the body it is orbiting and that of the other body. There are actually 5 such points for any given planet, however the other two are unstable and matter tends to drift away from these points rather than remaining there. You can see the same thing with Jupiter, where asteroids tend to accumulate in the exact same spots relative to the planet.

[Zanarkin]

Ohhh Saturn. I saw a pretty picture of the planet a while ago in a documentary. It was taken by the satellite Cassini passing through it. I'll post it later. In any case Saturn is truly spectacular with its rings. What i find truly interesting though is the idea of living in one of its moons (Enceladus mostly, i think Titan's atmosphere is far too thick to see anything). Because then that would mean we'd get to see Saturn from the surface of the moon. It would truly be a majestic sight seeing something so big on the night sky.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saturn_seen_from_Enceladus_(artist_concept).jpg

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/imagedetails/index.cfm?imageId=2315

Edited August 5, 2012 by SlayerX

[tenkiforecast]

I would agree that the rings are the most interesting aspect of Saturn. The possible methods of formation are interesting, but also the slight variations between rings, plus the guiding satellites within them.

Again, the moons and other aspects of the planet's gravitational field are more interesting than the gas giant itself. The winds, I would say it is the heat differential plus conservation of angular momentum...and I just lost a number of people.

[Zanarkin]

Again, the moons and other aspects of the planet's gravitational field are more interesting than the gas giant itself. The winds, I would say it is the heat differential plus conservation of angular momentum...and I just lost a number of people.

Keep talking, we all enjoy pretending we understood everything you said

[Strawman]

Hoorah! Saturn! I took a planetary geology class last semester that I actually enjoyed and learned a bit about it, but forgot most of it now it seems lol. I think I liked it because it had the lowest density and the rings of course. But really, all the planets are cool.

[Maji]

My second favorite planet as well.

The three most interesting things about Saturn are indeed its color and it's ability to float in an ocean [big enough] of water. But also, an interesting fact is that in a couple hundred million (or billion, can't remember), Saturn will no longer have its beautiful rings. Too much of the astro-dust floating around it will be gone.

On the bright side, in a few million years, Mars will have rings, which will be closer for Earthlings to observe for reasons I will cover in Mars's thread. I do however prefer Saturn's rings over any other rings, the golden hue to the planet gives it its regal look.

Ohhh Saturn. I saw a pretty picture of the planet a while ago in a documentary. It was taken by the satellite Cassini passing through it. I'll post it later. In any case Saturn is truly spectacular with its rings. What i find truly interesting though is the idea of living in one of its moons (Enceladus mostly, i think Titan's atmosphere is far too thick to see anything). Because then that would mean we'd get to see Saturn from the surface of the moon. It would truly be a majestic sight seeing something so big on the night sky.

http://en.wikipedia....st_concept).jpg

http://saturn.jpl.na...fm?imageId=2315

I've seen the second picture elsewhere, and when my first impression when I saw it was awe. Although I tend to enjoy Saturn more on its tilt, as it makes it look more comical and lively, this image in particular never fails to draw me into it. No doubt the glassy look of the rings is stunning, my favourite part of this picture would be the reflection of light off it it, which gives it an extraordinary look if you ask me.

As for the second picture, I love planetary artwork, and this work in particular reminds me of a picture I once saw in a book a long time ago of Triton's surface with Neptune in the distance

(I'll try and find it online)

Sometimes, when I have too much time on my hands, I love to browse concept art of exoplanets, they're very creative. My favourite are the hot Jupiter artworks, where they are spewing vapour into space, because they're going so fast.

Edit: Can't find it D; might scan it if I get that desperate to share it.

Hoorah! Saturn! I took a planetary geology class last semester that I actually enjoyed and learned a bit about it, but forgot most of it now it seems lol. I think I liked it because it had the lowest density and the rings of course. But really, all the planets are cool.

You don't know how jealous I am of you My university only has an intro to astrology course, and that's it. Granted, even just an intro to geology course covers the basics, I would love to focus on other planets rather than Earth, which don't get me wrong, is a fab planet, but my passion lies in the gas giants. Another reason why I like Saturn is the uniform bands of blueish tint in the gold, it makes the planet look tidy from a distance, as well as makes the storms easily visible.

Edited August 6, 2012 by Maji

[Phoenix Wright]

You don't know how jealous I am of you My university only has an intro to astrology course, and that's it. Granted, even just an intro to geology course covers the basics, I would love to focus on other planets rather than Earth, which don't get me wrong, is a fab planet, but my passion lies in the gas giants. Another reason why I like Saturn is the uniform bands of blueish tint in the gold, it makes the planet look tidy from a distance, as well as makes the storms easily visible.

A passion for gas-giants, you say? Well, could we both have the same top two favorite planets? Is your favorite planet Jupiter?

[Maji]

A passion for gas-giants, you say? Well, could we both have the same top two favorite planets? Is your favorite planet Jupiter?

Actually, Neptune is my favourite planet, I love the cloud formulae of it, as well as the more than intriguing composition of the interior. I'd also be lying if I said the oceanic blue didn't play part in why I love it so much. Although I do love Jupiter as well, there's a little bit of everything there for anyone to be interested in, so how could someone not like Jupiter? Speaking of which, I went to the meteor shower tonight, and brought a telescope, because I'm nerdy like that, and ended up pointing it at Jupiter, and wow, you can see some of its moons orbiting around Jupiter, it was pretty cool.

[Phoenix Wright]

Actually, Neptune is my favourite planet, I love the cloud formulae of it, as well as the more than intriguing composition of the interior. I'd also be lying if I said the oceanic blue didn't play part in why I love it so much. Although I do love Jupiter as well, there's a little bit of everything there for anyone to be interested in, so how could someone not like Jupiter? Speaking of which, I went to the meteor shower tonight, and brought a telescope, because I'm nerdy like that, and ended up pointing it at Jupiter, and wow, you can see some of its moons orbiting around Jupiter, it was pretty cool.

I want to build my own telescope. Reflecting, refracting, compound, don't matter to me! I'd imagine it's much cheaper, and I'd actually have the patience to do a great job on it. As it stands now, I have no money for a telescope. :(

That's freaking awesome, by the way.

[Zanarkin]

I want to build my own telescope. Reflecting, refracting, compound, don't matter to me! I'd imagine it's much cheaper, and I'd actually have the patience to do a great job on it. As it stands now, I have no money for a telescope. :(

That sounds pretty cool. You could probably make as good a 1000 dollar telescope or something for less way less than that.

[Phoenix Wright]

That sounds pretty cool. You could probably make as good a 1000 dollar telescope or something for less way less than that.

For much less. It's just that the flippin' lenses are actually quite expensive. The assembly, as you'd imagine, is also quite difficult to do well.

I want to make it a project with my roommates, hopefully they'd be up to it.

[Zanarkin]

For much less. It's just that the flippin' lenses are actually quite expensive. The assembly, as you'd imagine, is also quite difficult to do well.

I want to make it a project with my roommates, hopefully they'd be up to it.

If your roomates are science people as well, (which if your university/college distributes rooms like the one I'm going to they will likely be science people) I'm pretty sure they'd be up for it. It sounds like a nice project. Heck even people that aren't that into science would likely be up for it. Building your own telescope sounds pretty damn fun.