Are Saturn’s moons like Earth’s Moon?

1 Answer

Answer :

Yes and no. Many of them are covered with impact craters like our Moon, but the moons of Saturn are made up of much more water ice than Earth’s moon. Earth’s Moon may have very tiny patches of ice, but almost all its mass is rock. Because of this, most of Saturn’s moons are about one-third the density of our Moon. Titan’s density is a little higher, but still only about half as dense as Earth’s Moon. Saturn’s outermost moon, Phoebe, may be a captured asteroid, in which case it would likely have a much higher density. Titan is the only one of Saturn’s moons that is larger and more massive than our Moon. All the rest are significantly smaller and less massive, and many of them are irregularly shaped rather than spherical. Also, unlike our Moon, and un-like all of the other 60 or so moons in the Solar System, Titan has a thick atmosphere.

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Description : Why does Saturn have so many moons, but Earth has only one?

Last Answer : Here again, astronomers can make some educated guesses. There is more planet-building stuff at Saturn's orbital distance than at Earth's orbital distance. This is because Saturn's orbit is so far from ... , which later collided with each other or Earth, and now we are left with one large moon.

Description : How many moons does Saturn have?

Last Answer : At least 18 moons orbit Saturn. Until recently, Saturn was the moon champion, recognized as having more than any other planet in the Solar System. However, astronomers have announced discoveries ... faces away from their direction of motion. These are called the leading and trailing hemispheres.

Description : Who discovered all these moons?

Last Answer : In 1655, Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch astronomer, observed Saturn through a telescope and discovered Saturn's largest moon, Titan, although it wouldn't be named this for another 200 years. Titan's diameter ... still excited, because this was the first time the F ring clumps had been seen from Earth.

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Last Answer : If you were to scale down Saturn and its ring system so that Saturn was the size of Earth, the outer edge of the A ring would stretch about 6,400 km (4,000 mi) from Earth's ... Earth had rings like Saturn's, they would appear exceptionally beautiful on the summer solstice from midlatitudes at noon.

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Last Answer : Yes, sort of. Earth has seasons because of the tilt of its axis. Imagine a line drawn through Earth from the North Pole to the South Pole. This line always points toward the distant star Polaris, no ... it's summer in Australia: Earth is slightly closer to the Sun in January than it is in July. 

Description :  Does Saturn have a magnetic field like Earth’s?

Last Answer : Yes. Deep inside Saturn, probably in the deepest layers of liquid hydrogen and helium, something is causing Saturn to act like a giant magnet. The same sort of thing happens in the hot liquid ... . Auroras are caused when particles streaming from the Sun interact with Saturn's magnetic field.

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Last Answer : The rings are nothing more than a dense swarm of tiny, interacting moons. In principle, you could find an orbit for every ring particle around Saturn if the particles did not interact with ... to see just what definitions evolve once Cassini begins making its closer examination of Saturn's rings!

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Last Answer : The gravitational acceleration at the cloud tops of Saturn is similar to that near the surface of Earth - 10.4 m/sec2 for Saturn, compared to 9.8 m/sec2 on the surface of Earth. Thus, it turns out you ... six times less on the Moon. Your mass, however, is exactly the same on the Moon or on Earth. 

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Last Answer : The small inner planets may have had rings in the past and may have rings again in the future. One prevalent theory says that ring systems are much younger than the age of the Solar System, and as ... orbit around our planet. In a very short time, this debris would gather together to form the Moon.

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Last Answer : The rings probably formed primarily because one or more small moons broke up close to Saturn. This breakup could have been the result of a collision with a comet or asteroid, or with another moon in ... This slowly grinds them down in size and spreads them out, gradually adding to Saturn's rings.

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Last Answer : A year is the time it takes for Earth to make one complete trip around the Sun, or about 365 Earth days. It takes Saturn 29.5 Earth years to travel once around the Sun, so one Saturn year is about 30 Earth years. ... orbit around the Sun since you were born! (15/30 = 1/2 = 0.5 of a Saturn year old)

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Description : Does Saturn have winds and storms?

Last Answer : Yes, but the winds and storms on Saturn are very different from those on Earth. The Voyager spacecraft measured a giant jetstream near Saturn's equator with a fantastic eastward speed of about 1,800 ... Jupiter's Great Red Spot is the most notable example of a long-lived hurricane on another planet.

Description : What is the temperature on Saturn?

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Description : Since Saturn does not have a solid surface, would I sink to the middle of the planet if I tried to walk there?

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