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Saturn Information

Saturn: Facts & Figures

By Nick Greene, About.com

Saturn - Ringed Planet - 6th From Sun - Saturn Information

Saturn - Ringed Planet - 6th From the Sun. - Saturn Information

NASA
Discovered By
  • Known by the Ancients
Date of Discovery
  • Unknown
Average Distance from the Sun
  • Metric: 1,426,725,400 km
  • English: 885,904,700 miles
  • Scientific Notation: 1.4267254 x 109 km (9.53707 A.U.)
  • By Comparison: 9.53707 x Earth
Perihelion (closest)
  • Metric: 1,349,467,000 km
  • English: 838,519,000 miles
  • Scientific Notation: 1.349467 x 109 km (9.021 A.U.)
  • By Comparison: 9.177 x Earth
Aphelion (farthest)
  • Metric: 1,503,983,000 km
  • English: 934,530,000 miles
  • Scientific Notation: 1.503983 x 109 km (10.054 A.U.)
  • By Comparison: 9.886 x Earth
Equatorial Radius
  • Metric: 60,268 km
  • English: 37,449 miles
  • Scientific Notation: 6.0268 x 104 km
  • By Comparison: 9.449 x Earth
Equatorial Circumference
  • Metric: 378,675 km
  • English: 235,298 miles
  • Scientific Notation: 3.78675 x 105 km
Volume
  • Metric: 827,130,000,000,000 km3
  • Scientific Notation: 8.2713 x 1014 km3
  • By Comparison: 763.6 x Earth
Mass
  • Metric: 568,510,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg
  • Scientific Notation: 5.6851 x 1026 kg
  • By Comparison: 95.16 x Earth
Density
  • Metric: 0.70 g/cm3
  • By Comparison: 0.127 x Earth
Surface Area
  • Metric: 43,466,000,000 km2
  • English: 16,782,000,000 square miles
  • Scientific Notation: 4.3466 x 1010 km2
  • By Comparison: 85.22 x Earth
Equatorial Surface Gravity
  • Metric: 7.207 m/s2
  • English: 23.64 ft/s2
  • By Comparison: If you weigh 100 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 74 pounds on Saturn.
Escape Velocity
  • Metric: 127,760 km/h
  • English: 79,390 mph
  • Scientific Notation: 35,490 m/s
  • By Comparison: Escape velocity of Earth is 25,022 mph.
Sidereal Rotation Period (Length of Day)
  • 0.44401 Earth days
  • 10.656 hours
  • By Comparison: .0445 x Earth
Sidereal Orbit Period (Length of Year)
  • 29.4 Earth years
  • 10755.7 Earth days
Mean Orbit Velocity
  • Metric: 34,821 km/h
  • English: 21,637 mph
  • Scientific Notation: 9,672.4 m/s
  • By Comparison: 0.865 x Earth
Orbital Eccentricity
  • .0541506
  • By Comparison: 3.24 x Earth
Orbital Inclination to Ecliptic
  • 2.484 degrees
Equatorial Inclination to Orbit
  • 26.73 degrees
  • By Comparison: 1.14 x Earth
Orbital Circumference
  • Metric: 8,725,000,000 km
  • English: 5,421,000,000 miles
  • Scientific Notation: 8.725 x 109 km
  • By Comparison: 9.439 x Earth
Effective Temperature
  • Metric: -178 °C
  • English: -288 °F
  • Scientific Notation: 95 K
Atmospheric Constituents
  • Hydrogen, Helium
  • Scientific Notation: H2, He
  • By Comparison: Earth's atmosphere consists mostly of N2 and O2.
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