Saturn

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Saturn : the planet sixth in order from the sun — Merriam-Webster See also OneLook

Encyclopedia

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; however, with its larger volume, Saturn is over 95 times more massive. Saturn’s interior is most likely composed of a core of iron–nickel and rock (silicon and oxygen compounds). Its core is surrounded by a deep layer of metallic hydrogen, an intermediate layer of liquid hydrogen and liquid helium, and finally, a gaseous outer layer. The planet’s most notable feature is its prominent ring system, which is composed mainly of ice particles, with a smaller amount of rocky debris and dust. — Wikipedia

Saturn (Encyclopædia Britannica)
Saturn (COSMOS: The SAO Encyclopedia of Astronomy)

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Adventures

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Inspiration

NASA’s Eyes is a freely available suite of computer visualization applications created by the Visualization Technology Applications and Development Team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to render scientifically accurate views of the planets studied by JPL missions and the spacecraft used in that study. — Wikipedia

Saturn (NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System, NASA’s JPL & Cal Tech)

Solar System Treks are online, browser-based portals that allow you to visualize, explore, and analyze the surfaces of other worlds using real data returned from a growing fleet of spacecraft. You can view the worlds through the eyes of many different instruments, pilot real-time 3D flyovers above mountains and into craters, and conduct measurements of surface features. These Solar System Treks showcase data about the moons of Saturn collected by the Cassini spacecraft which was launched in 1997. — Titan Trek (Solar System Treks, NASA)

Titan Trek (Solar System Treks, NASA)
Enceladus Trek (Solar System Treks, NASA)
Dione Trek (Solar System Treks, NASA)
Iapetus Trek (Solar System Treks, NASA)
Mimas Trek (Solar System Treks, NASA)
Phoebe Trek (Solar System Treks, NASA)
Rhea Trek (Solar System Treks, NASA)
Tethys Trek (Solar System Treks, NASA)

Saturn Space Video in 4K for Virtual Reality (VR 360 TV, YouTube 360° Video)

Saturn (Astrum, YouTube Playlist)

Articles about Saturn (Big Think)

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Innovation

Science

NASA and Durham University simulations put forth a theory of the origin of Saturn’s rings and icy moons – they may have formed following a massive collision between two moons orbiting the gas giant. The simulations used in this research are some of the most detailed of their kind to study the formation of Saturn’s rings and potentially habitable icy moons. — NASA’s Ames Research Center

NASA’s Ames Research Center (YouTube Channel)
NASA’s Ames Research Center (Official Website)

Saturn (NASA Science)
Saturn and Titan Resources (Staci L. Tiedeken, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center)

Saturn Videos (ViewSpace, Space Telescope Science Institute)

Saturn, Planet of Rings, Moons and More to Explore (Planetary Society)

Saturn (Eric Weisstein’s World of Astronomy, Wolfram Research)
Saturn (Wolfram Alpha)

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Preservation

History

The observation and exploration of Saturn can be divided into three phases: (1) pre-modern observations with the naked eye, (2) telescopic observations from Earth beginning in the 17th century, and (3) visitation by space probes, in orbit or on flyby. In the 21st century, telescopic observations continue from Earth (including Earth-orbiting observatories like the Hubble Space Telescope) and, until its 2017 retirement, from the Cassini orbiter around Saturn. — Wikipedia

Saturn: History of Discoveries (NASA)
The Ears of Saturn (Objectivity, YouTube Video)
The View from Galileo’s Telescope (MicroObservatory, Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian)

Pioneer programs were two series of United States lunar and planetary space probes exploration. The second program, which ran from 1965 to 1992, sent four spacecraft to measure interplanetary space weather, two to explore Jupiter and Saturn, and two to explore Venus. The two outer planet probes, Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, became the first of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity that will allow them to leave the Solar System. — Wikipedia

Pioneer 11 (NASA Science)
Pioneer 11 at Saturn (NASA Science)

Pioneer 10 and 11 (Planetary Society)
Pioneer 11 (Wikipedia)

Voyager Program is an American scientific program that employs two robotic interstellar probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. They were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable alignment of Jupiter and Saturn, to fly near them while collecting data for transmission back to Earth. After launch the decision was taken to send Voyager 2 near Uranus and Neptune. — Wikipedia

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (YouTube Channel)
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Official Website)

Voyager 1 & 2 (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, YouTube Playlist)
Voyager Mission (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Official Website)

Voyager Mission (NASA Science)
Voyager 1 (NASA Science)
Voyager 2 (NASA Science)

The Voyager Spacecraft’s 40 Year Journey (The New York Times, YouTube Video)
The Story of the Voyager Expedition (The New Yorker, YouTube Video)

Voyager 2 and the Grand Tour (The History Guy, YouTube Video)

Voyager Mission (Planetary Society)
Voyager Program (Wikipedia)

Cassini–Huygens Mission was a collaboration among NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to send a space probe to study the planet Saturn and its system, including its rings and natural satellites. The Flagship-class robotic spacecraft comprised both NASA’s Cassini space probe and ESA’s Huygens lander, which landed on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Cassini was launched on October 15, 1997, and it entered Saturn’s orbit on July 1, 2004. The mission ended on September 15, 2017, when Cassini’s trajectory took it into Saturn’s upper atmosphere and it burned up. — Wikipedia

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (YouTube Channel)
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Official Website)

Note: This is a 360° Video — press and hold to explore it!

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (YouTube Channel)
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Official Website)

Cassini at Saturn (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, YouTube Playlist)
Cassini’s Grand Finale (NASASolarSystem, YouTube Playlist)
Cassini-Huygens Mission (NASA)

Cassini-Huygens Mission (ESA)

Saturn: Exploration (NASA Science)

Library

DDC: 523.46 Saturn (Library Thing)
Subject: Saturn (Library Thing)

Subject: Saturn (Open Library)

LCC: QB 671 Saturn (Library of Congress)
Subject: Saturn (Library of Congress)

Subject: Saturn (WorldCat)

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Participation

Education

Saturn – Level 1 (StarChild, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA)
Saturn – Level 2 (StarChild, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA)

All About Saturn (Space Place, NASA)
Why Does Saturn Have Rings? (Space Place, NASA)

History of Saturn Discoveries (Cassini Program, NASA, JPL)

Saturn (Cosmos4Kids)
Saturn’s Moons (Cosmos4Kids)

Saturn (Crash Course Astronomy, YouTube Video

MERLOT: Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching
OER Commons: Open Educational Resources

Community

Organization

Saturn, Uranus & Neptune Section (British Astronomical Association)

News

Saturn (Nova Research Highlights, American Astronomical Society)
Saturn (EurekaAlert, AAAS)
Saturn (Astronomy Magazine)
Saturn (JSTOR)
Saturn (Science Daily)
Saturn (Phys.org)

Recent News from Phys.org …

Catch a rare lunar occultation of Jupiter plus...
on September 30, 2026 at 10:00 pm
It's a busy skywatching month ahead. The first full week of October sees two top-notch skywatching events, with Saturn reaching opposition and the moon occulting Jupiter for North America on Oct. 6.
Suns set on hunt for giant planets in nearby...
on September 29, 2026 at 6:20 pm
New research led by the University of Michigan is helping set the stage for future observatories to characterize rocky planets outside our solar system, planets that could prove life isn't confined to Earth. The new research represents the most sensitive modern search for giant planets in a nearby binary system—a system with two stars orbiting each other—known as 70 Ophiuchi AB, or 70 Oph AB.
Meteor hit Oklahoma 100 million years later than...
on September 28, 2026 at 9:50 pm
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have rewritten a small part of Oklahoma's geologic history with global implications for ancient life. Below the surface of the small town of Ames, Oklahoma, a meteor impact site spans miles. The crater is buried by sedimentary strata in the subsurface, but it remains an important marker of Oklahoma's ancient past and present-day economy; the Ames impact structure is a major oil and gas producer.
Webb detects ammonia and unexpected chill on a...
on September 25, 2026 at 4:40 pm
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a team of astronomers led by the University of Maryland identified water, methane and ammonia in the atmosphere of HATS-6 b, a giant planet 500 light-years from Earth. The observations also revealed that HATS-6 b may be significantly cooler than standard calculations predict—suggesting that the planet's relationship with its star may be far more complicated than previously thought.
Astronomers capture an unprecedented view of gas...
on September 24, 2026 at 3:20 pm
In recent decades, astronomers have reconstructed a fairly complete scenario for planet formation, from minute dust motes clumping together to the emergence of rocky spheres thousands of kilometers across, like Earth, or larger gas giants like Jupiter.