Saturn: The jewel of our solar system
Saturn is called the "jewel of our solar system" because of its beautiful rings. Saturn's rings span up to 175,000 miles (282,000 kilometers), about three quarters of the distance between the Earth and its moons. Galileo Galilei discovered them in 1610. While the other three gas planets-Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune-have rings orbiting them as well, Saturn's are the largest and most spectacular. There are billions of ring particles in the entire ring system. The ring particle sizes range from tiny, dust sized icy grains to a few particles as large as mountains.
The rings are believed to be pieces of comets, asteroids, or shattered moons that broke up before they reached the planet. Each ring orbits at a different speed around the planet. |
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