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How do Saturn's rings stay in place? Do they
just float around the planet or does gravity keep them there or
something?
ANNA, AGE 13, USA
Answer: Saturn's rings are made up of millions
of pieces of rock and dust. The gravity of Saturn holds it all in
place but there are some moons that go around Saturn (just like
our Moon), called shepherd moons that help to keep the rings in
place.
Hello Professor, One of my fourth grade students
(Abria) posed the question of whether or not Saturn's rings rotate
with the planet.
We took a class survey and 12 students believe
they probably do and 4 students think they don't. Would you be kind
enough to respond to our question?
MRS DA SILVA, MANASSAS, USA
Answer: It sounds like you have had an interesting
discussion in class. Well you may be surprised to know that the
four students who said the rings didn't orbit with the planet were
correct!
Let me explain why. The rings of Saturn are made
up of billions upon billions of pieces of rock and dust. They formed
around Saturn at the same time that Saturn itself formed some 5
billion years ago.
Since they are simply rock and dust, they are
not part of the planet itself but simply a vast collection of objects
that are orbiting around it like our Moon orbits around the Earth.
Furthermore, they don't all orbit around Saturn
at the same speed. Those further away from the Planet travel slower
than those nearer. I hope this helps and if you have any more fascinating
discussions I'd be more than happy to hear about them.
Is "Saturn" named after the day "Saturday"?
MONIL, AGE 12, LONDON
Answer: Both Saturn and Saturday (or Saturn’s
Day) are named the Roman god of agriculture and time.
How many Saturns can fit inside the Sun?
ANON, AGE 14
Answer: About 1600 Saturns could fit inside
the Sun!
How Long does it take Saturn to rotate once
on its axis?
ERIN, AGE 13, RHODE ISLAND
Answer: It takes Saturn just 10 hours and
39 minutes to spin once on its axis.
Why does it take that long for Saturn to orbit
the sun?
SEJLA, AGE 13, ST PETERS
Answer: It takes Saturn a lot longer to
orbit the Sun compared to the Earth because it is so much further
away from the Sun and so has a lot further to travel.
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Saturn is named after the Roman god of agriculture
and time.
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How long does light take to reach Saturn from
the Sun?
EMMA, AGE 10, PALMERSTON NORTH
Answer: It takes sunlight 1 hour and 20
minutes to reach Saturn. By contrast, it takes just over eight minutes
to reach us here on Earth.
Can you tell me the force of gravity on Saturn?
TASH, AGE 14, AUSTRALIA
Answer: The force of gravity on Saturn is
just 1.1 times the force of gravity here on Earth.
How long did it take for Huygens to get to Saturn
from Earth?
AMANDA, AGE 12, WARRNAMBOOL
Answer: It took the
Cassini-Huygens probes seven years to get to Saturn.
I am doing a school project on planets and I
have to design a poster advertising one of the planets as a holiday
destination.
I have chosen Saturn and I was wondering if,
because the rings are made of ice, could I put that you can ice
skate around them? (p.s. It doesn't have to be exactly true)
ROSEMARY, AGE 11, LINCOLN
Answer: The rings
of Saturn are made up of billions and billions of pieces of dust,
rock and ice, some of which are only a few metres across. Because
the rings are not a solid object it is not possible to ice skate
around them.
Has anyone ever travelled to, or are planning
to travel to Saturn?
LOUISE, AGE 10
Answer: No humans
have ever travelled to Saturn and there are no plans to. There
have been a number of automatic spaceships travelling to Saturn
in fact one is there right now.
It's called Cassini and it has a small spaceship
attached to it which will land on one of Saturn's moon's on 14 January
2005.
How did Saturn get its name?
ANON
Answer: All of the
planets are named after gods. Saturn is named after the Roman God
of Agriculture.
How long does it take for Saturn to orbit the
sun?
COURTNEY, AGE 11
Answer: Saturn takes
about 29 years to orbit the Sun.
Where did the rings come from that encircle
the Planet Saturn? Do any other planets in our solar system also
have rings?
ROBERT, AGE 15
Answer: We think
that the rings around Saturn are made of material that never formed
a moon.
We can see rings around other planets; Jupiter,
Uranus and Neptune all have rings and we have seen evidence of parts
of a ring around Mars too.
Read more: Planet
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