30
			Number of Earth years it takes Saturn to orbit the sun. A Saturnian year.
			1,100 mph
			Wind speeds at Saturn's equator. About 1,800 kph. Earth's most violent tornadoes hit 200 mph.
			616,000
			Number of names on a CD carried to Saturn on the Cassini spacecraft. Don't worry, there's still time to send your name to Mars!
			70,700 mph
			Speed of the Cassini spacecraft as it travels to Saturn.
			3,200,000,000
			Approximate distance the Cassini spacecraft will have traveled when it reaches Saturn in July 2004.
			5,600
			Number of years it would take to travel the same distance as Cassini at 60 mph.
			-218°F
			Temperature near the cloud tops of Saturn. About -139°C.
			31
			Number of moons orbiting Saturn.

Saturn is the sixth planet from our Sun. It is called the 'jewel of the solar system' because of its beautiful rings. It is the second largest planet in our solar system.

Saturn is named for the Roman god of agriculture.

WHAT'S IT LIKE ON SATURN?
Saturn is a lot like Jupiter. It is made up mostly of gas, including hydrogen, helium and methane. It doesn't have a solid surface.

	lbs

Saturn has clouds stripes and storms like Jupiter, but they are harder to see. The clouds we see are mostly yellow and white. One scientist compared them to a lemon meringue pie. A person – or spacecraft – dropping through the icy clouds would be crushed.

The pressure – the same kind you feel when you dive into the deep end of a pool – is so powerful it squeezes gas into liquid. Even a metal spacecraft would be smashed. It is not a nice place for humans.

Saturn has the most spectacular rings of any planet in the solar system. They are made of billions of small chunks of ice and rock. The chunks can be as small as a grain of sugar or as big as a house. Scientists think the rings formed when moons and other objects were torn apart by Saturn's powerful gravity. The rings would look mostly white if you looked at them from the cloud tops of Saturn.

Saturn has at least 31 moons. In 2004, a probe from Earth will land on Titan, the solar system's second largest moon. Titan's surface is hidden by smog. There may be lakes of liquid methane under the haze.

SATURN CHALLENGE
How do you think Saturn's rings formed? Why doesn't the ice melt?

MISSIONS TO SATURN
Featured Mission: Cassini
Cassini and the Huygens probe should give us the best look ever at Saturn and its moon Titan. The spacecraft arrives in July 2004.

More Missions to Saturn:
Past Missions
Present Missions

Source: NASA