Saturn: Facts - NASA Science
Explore
Search
News & Events
News & Events
Recently Published
Video Series on NASA+
Podcasts & Audio
Blogs
Newsletters
Social Media
Media Resources
Multimedia
Multimedia
NASA+
Images
NASA Live
NASA Apps
Podcasts
Image of the Day
e-Books
3D Resources
Interactives
STEM Multimedia
NASA Brand & Usage Guidelines
NASA+
Search
Suggested Searches
Climate Change
Artemis
Expedition 64
Mars perseverance
SpaceX Crew-2
International Space Station
View All Topics A-Z
Home
Missions
Humans in Space
Earth
The Solar System
The Universe
Science
Aeronautics
Technology
Learning Resources
About NASA
Español
News & Events
Multimedia
NASA+
Highlights
2 min read
NASA Awards SpaceX Three Crew Flights to Space Station
article
13 hours ago
5 min read
Newfound ‘Baby’ Planet Smashes Record for Youngest Known World
article
3 days ago
6 min read
NASA’s Moon Orbiter Spots New, ‘Once-in-Century’ Moon Crater
article
2 days ago
Back
Missions
Search All NASA Missions
A to Z List of Missions
Upcoming Launches and Landings
Spaceships and Rockets
Communicating with Missions
Artemis
James Webb Space Telescope
Hubble Space Telescope
International Space Station
OSIRIS-REx
Humans in Space
Why Go to Space
Astronauts
Commercial Space
Destinations
Spaceships and Rockets
Living in Space
Earth
Explore Earth Science
Climate Change
Earth, Our Planet
Earth Science in Action
Earth Multimedia
Earth Data
Earth Science Researchers
The Solar System
The Sun
Mercury
Venus
Earth
The Moon
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto & Dwarf Planets
Asteroids, Comets & Meteors
The Kuiper Belt
The Oort Cloud
Skywatching
The Universe
Exoplanets
The Search for Life in the Universe
Stars
Galaxies
Black Holes
The Big Bang
Dark Matter
Dark Energy
Science
Earth Science
Planetary Science
Astrophysics & Space Science
The Sun & Heliophysics
Biological & Physical Sciences
Lunar Science
Citizen Science
Astromaterials
Aeronautics Research
Human Space Travel Research
Aeronautics
Science in the Air
NASA Aircraft
Flight Innovation
Supersonic Flight
Air Traffic Solutions
Green Aviation Tech
Drones & You
Technology
Technology Transfer & Spinoffs
Space Travel Technology
Technology Living in Space
Manufacturing and Materials
Robotics
Science Instruments
Computing
Learning Resources
For Kids and Students
For Educators
For Colleges and Universities
For Professionals
Science for Everyone
Requests for Exhibits, Artifacts, or Speakers
STEM Engagement at NASA
About NASA
NASA's Impacts
Centers and Facilities
Directorates
Organizations
People of NASA
Careers
Internships
Our History
Doing Business with NASA
Get Involved
Contact
NASA en Español
Ciencia
Aeronáutica
Ciencias Terrestres
Sistema Solar
Universo
News & Events
Recently Published
Video Series on NASA+
Podcasts & Audio
Blogs
Newsletters
Social Media
Media Resources
Multimedia
NASA+
Images
NASA Live
NASA Apps
Podcasts
Image of the Day
e-Books
3D Resources
Interactives
STEM Multimedia
NASA Brand & Usage Guidelines
Highlights
5 min read
NASA-JAXA XRISM Mission Sees Pulsar Gathering Companion’s ‘Wind’
article
11 hours ago
3 min read
NASA’s Hubble Spots an Out-of-Sync Galaxy
article
16 hours ago
2 min read
NASA, SpaceX Continue Crew‑13 Prep as Crew Enters Quarantine
article
1 day ago
Highlights
2 min read
NASA’s Integrated Medical Model (IMM)
article
3 days ago
3 min read
Summer Training: Catching Up With NASA’s Astronaut Candidates
article
5 days ago
265 min read
Astronaut Fact Book
article
1 week ago
Highlights
1 min read
EVS-4
article
1 day ago
3 min read
Summer Goes Out With a Heat Dome
article
2 days ago
1 min read
Amendment 74: A.14 Atmosphere Research Program Due Date Delay and Clarification Regarding the use of Generative AI
article
2 days ago
Highlights
7 min read
Helio and You: A Fresh Perspective on the Sun
article
2 days ago
6 min read
NASA’s Moon Orbiter Spots New, ‘Once-in-Century’ Moon Crater
article
2 days ago
2 min read
NASA’s Integrated Medical Model (IMM)
article
3 days ago
Highlights
5 min read
NASA-JAXA XRISM Mission Sees Pulsar Gathering Companion’s ‘Wind’
article
11 hours ago
3 min read
NASA’s Hubble Spots an Out-of-Sync Galaxy
article
16 hours ago
5 min read
Newfound ‘Baby’ Planet Smashes Record for Youngest Known World
article
3 days ago
Highlights
5 min read
NASA-JAXA XRISM Mission Sees Pulsar Gathering Companion’s ‘Wind’
article
11 hours ago
3 min read
NASA’s Hubble Spots an Out-of-Sync Galaxy
article
16 hours ago
1 min read
EVS-4
article
1 day ago
Highlights
4 min read
Passion Meets Precision at NASA’s Flight Research Lab
article
2 days ago
3 min read
NASA Johnson Pilots Chase Moon’s Shadow for Eclipse Science
article
3 weeks ago
4 min read
NASA Selects University Teams to Help Advance Aviation Research
article
4 weeks ago
Highlights
7 min read
Helio and You: A Fresh Perspective on the Sun
article
2 days ago
3 min read
NASA Celebrates Restoration of Guam Station Damaged by Typhoon Mawar
article
3 days ago
3 min read
NASA’s Life-Saving Technology Where Cell Signals Can’t Go
article
1 week ago
Highlights
2 min read
NASA’s Integrated Medical Model (IMM)
article
3 days ago
7 min read
From the Corps to the Cosmos, featuring Jaden Caradine
article
1 week ago
3 min read
1,000 Museum Visitors Dive Into NASA Sea Level Science on World Ocean Day
article
2 weeks ago
Highlights
2 min read
NASA Awards SpaceX Three Crew Flights to Space Station
article
13 hours ago
3 min read
Celebrate International Observe the Moon Night with NASA
article
4 days ago
3 min read
NASA Celebrates Restoration of Guam Station Damaged by Typhoon Mawar
article
3 days ago
Highlights
11 min read
La NASA anuncia la cobertura de la misión lunar Artemis II
article
6 months ago
15 min read
Agenda diaria de la misión a la Luna de Artemis II de la NASA
article
6 months ago
6 min read
La NASA refuerza Artemis: añade una misión y perfecciona su arquitectura general
article
7 months ago
Explore This Section
…
Saturn
Saturn: Facts
Saturn Home
Facts
Exploration
Moons
Overview
Facts
Resources
Solar System Home
Saturn Facts
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun, and the second-largest planet in our solar system.
Introduction
Namesake
Potential for Life
Size and Distance
Orbit and Rotation
Moons
Rings
Formation
Structure
Surface
Atmosphere
Magnetosphere
Introduction
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured one of its last looks at Saturn, and its main rings from a distance. The images used to create this view were taken on Oct. 28, 2016. The spacecraft arrived at Saturn in 2004, and the mission ended Sept.15, 2017.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Like fellow gas giant Jupiter, Saturn is a massive ball made mostly of hydrogen and helium. Saturn is not the only planet to
have
rings, but none are as spectacular or as complex as Saturn's. Saturn also has dozens of moons.
From the jets of water that spray from
Saturn's moon Enceladus
to the methane lakes on smoggy
Titan
, the Saturn system is a rich source of scientific discovery and still holds many mysteries.
Namesake
The farthest planet from Earth discovered by the unaided human eye, Saturn has been known since ancient times. The planet is named for the Roman god of agriculture and wealth, who was also the father of Jupiter.
Potential for Life
Saturn's environment is not conducive to life as we know it. The temperatures, pressures, and materials that characterize this planet are most likely too extreme and volatile for organisms to adapt to.
While planet Saturn is an unlikely place for living things to take hold, the same is not true of some of its many moons. Satellites like Enceladus and Titan, home to internal oceans, could possibly support life.
Size and Distance
With an equatorial diameter of about 74,897 miles (120,500 kilometers), Saturn is 9 times wider than Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Saturn would be about as big as a volleyball.
From an average distance of 886 million miles (1.4 billion kilometers), Saturn is 9.5 astronomical units away from the Sun. One astronomical unit (abbreviated as AU), is the distance from the Sun to Earth. From this distance, it takes sunlight 80 minutes to travel from the Sun to Saturn.
Orbit and Rotation
Saturn has the second-shortest day in the solar system. One day on Saturn takes only 10.7 hours (the time it takes for Saturn to rotate or spin around once), and Saturn makes a complete orbit around the Sun (a year in Saturnian time) in about 29.4 Earth years (10,756 Earth days).
Its axis is tilted by 26.73 degrees with respect to its orbit around the Sun, which is similar to Earth's 23.5-degree tilt. This means that, like Earth, Saturn experiences seasons.
Moons
Saturn is home to a vast array of intriguing and unique worlds. From the haze-shrouded surface of Titan to crater-riddled Phoebe, each of Saturn's moons tells another piece of the story surrounding the Saturn system. As of March 2025, Saturn had 274 confirmed moons in its orbit, far more than any other planet in our solar system, with other Saturnian satellites continually awaiting confirmation of their discovery and official naming by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
Colorful Colossuses and Changing Hues
: A giant of a moon appears before a giant of a planet undergoing seasonal changes in this natural color view of Titan and Saturn from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Rings
Saturn's rings are thought to be pieces of comets, asteroids, or shattered moons that broke up before they reached the planet, torn apart by Saturn's powerful gravity. They are made of billions of small chunks of ice and rock coated with other materials such as dust. The ring particles mostly range from tiny, dust-sized icy grains to chunks as big as a house. A few particles are as large as mountains. The rings would look mostly white if you looked at them from the cloud tops of Saturn, and interestingly, each ring orbits at a different speed around the planet.
Saturn's ring system extends up to 175,000 miles (282,000 kilometers) from the planet, yet the vertical height is typically about 30 feet (10 meters) in the main rings. Named alphabetically in the order they were discovered, the rings are relatively close to each other, with the exception of a gap measuring 2,920 miles (4,700 kilometers) in width called the Cassini Division that separates Rings A and B. The main rings are A, B, and C. Rings D, E, F, and G are fainter and more recently discovered.
Starting at Saturn and moving outward, there is the D ring, C ring, B ring, Cassini Division, A ring, F ring, G ring, and finally, the E ring. Much farther out, there is the very faint Phoebe ring in the orbit of Saturn's moon Phoebe.
Formation
Saturn took shape when the rest of the solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago when gravity pulled swirling gas and dust in to become this gas giant. About 4 billion years ago, Saturn settled into its current position in the outer solar system, where it is the sixth planet from the Sun. Like Jupiter, Saturn is mostly made of hydrogen and helium, the same two main components that make up the Sun.
Structure
Like Jupiter, Saturn is made mostly of hydrogen and helium. At Saturn's center is a dense core of metals like iron and nickel surrounded by rocky material and other compounds solidified by intense pressure and heat. It is enveloped by liquid metallic hydrogen inside a layer of liquid hydrogen –similar to Jupiter's core but considerably smaller.
It's hard to imagine, but Saturn is the only planet in our solar system with an average density that is less than water. The giant gas planet could float in a bathtub if such a colossal thing existed.
Surface
As a gas giant, Saturn doesn’t have a true surface. The planet is mostly swirling gases and liquids deeper down. While a spacecraft would have nowhere to land on Saturn, it wouldn’t be able to fly through unscathed either. The extreme pressures and temperatures deep inside the planet would crush, melt, and vaporize any spacecraft trying to fly into the planet.
Atmosphere
Saturn is blanketed with clouds that appear as faint stripes, jet streams, and storms. The planet is many different shades of yellow, brown, and gray.
Winds in the upper atmosphere reach 1,600 feet per second (500 meters per second) in the equatorial region. In contrast, the strongest hurricane-force winds on Earth top out at about 360 feet per second (110 meters per second). And the pressure – the same kind you feel when you dive deep underwater – is so powerful it squeezes gas into a liquid.
Saturn's north pole has an interesting atmospheric feature – a six-sided jet stream. This
hexagon-shaped pattern
was first noticed in images taken by the twin Voyager spacecraft in the early 80s. Later, it was more closely observed by the Cassini spacecraft. Spanning about 20,000 miles (30,000 kilometers) across, the hexagon is a wavy jet stream of 200-mile-per-hour winds (about 322 kilometers per hour) with a massive, rotating storm at the center.
For decades, the north-pole hexagon had no counterpart at Saturn’s south pole. But
recent observations
with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope revealed a giant, evolving, 10-sided — or decagonal — atmospheric wave encircling Saturn's south pole, according to a research study published in September 2026. This discovery, gleaned from observations dating back to 2023, marked the first time a large, regular-sided jet pattern has been observed in the planet's southern hemisphere.
Magnetosphere
Saturn's magnetic field is smaller than Jupiter's but still 578 times as powerful as Earth's. Saturn, the rings, and many of the satellites lie totally within Saturn's enormous magnetosphere, the region of space in which the behavior of electrically charged particles is influenced more by Saturn's magnetic field than by the solar wind.
Aurorae occur when charged particles spiral into a planet's atmosphere along magnetic field lines. On Earth, these charged particles come from the solar wind. Cassini showed that at least some of Saturn's aurorae are like Jupiter's and are largely unaffected by the solar wind. Instead, these aurorae are caused by a combination of particles ejected from Saturn's moons and Saturn's magnetic field's rapid rotation rate. But these "non-solar-originating" aurorae are not completely understood yet.
Keep Exploring
Discover More Topics From NASA
Sun
Planets
Asteroids, Comets & Meteors
Kuiper Belt
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA explores the unknown in air and space, innovates for the benefit of humanity, and inspires the world through discovery.
About NASA's Mission
Join Us
Home
News & Events
Multimedia
NASA+
Missions
Humans in Space
Earth
The Solar System
The Universe
Science
Aeronautics
Technology
Learning Resources
About NASA
NASA en Español
Follow NASA
More NASA Social Accounts
NASA Newsletters
Sitemap
For Media
Privacy Policy
FOIA
No FEAR Act
Office of the IG
Budget & Annual Reports
Agency Financial Reports
Contact NASA
Accessibility
Page Last Updated:
Sep 03, 2026
Page Editor:
AMANDA BARNETT
Responsible NASA Official for Science:
Dana Bolles
Δ
Did you find what you were looking for?
(Required)
Yes
No
Partly
What were you looking for?
(Required)
What were you hoping to accomplish by visiting our website?
(Required)
Submit
×