Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the most distant that can be seen with the naked eye. Saturn is the second largest planet and is best known for its fabulous ring system that was first observed in 1610 by the astronomer Galileo Galilei. Like Jupiter, Saturn is a gas giant and is composed of similar gasses including hydrogen, helium and methane.
Saturn’s rings are made up of are billions of particles that range in size from tiny dust grains to to objects as large as mountains. These are made up of chunks of ice and rock, believed to have come from asteroids comets or even moons, that broke apart before they reached the planet.
Saturn takes 29,5 years to make one complete orbit of the Sun. The Earth takes one year. Like Jupiter, however, Saturn spins much faster on its axis than the Earth. The Earth completes one rotation (turning) on its axis in 24 hours, turning away from the Sun and back again to give us night and day. Saturn, although so much bigger, completes a full rotation in just over 10 hours. This rapid spinning leads to hurricane-like storms far, far stronger than anything that is seen on the Earth. There is a constant whirlwind storm at Saturn’s south pole which can be observed with the strongest telescopes.