Saturn: the planet and its rings | PIA01969 | ||
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Voyager 1 looked back at Saturn on Nov. 16, 1980, four days after the spacecraft flew past the planet, to observe the appearance of Saturn and its rings from this unique perspective. | ||
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Image Credit: JPL/NASA | |||
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Planetary
Facts: Saturn Equatorial radius (km): 60268 Mass (relative to Earth): 95.16 Density (g/cm3): 0.69 Surface gravity: 0.92 (relative to Earth) Rotation period: 10.66 hours Axial inclination: 26.7° Distance from Sun (AU): 9.55 Orbital period: 29.42 years Orbital eccentricity: 0.056 Composition of surface: gassy Mean cloud-top temperature: -180°C Composition of atmosphere: hydrogen (97%), hekium (3%), methane (0.5%), ammonia (0.01%) Number of satellites: 18 |
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Voyager
1 looked back at Saturn on Nov. 16, 1980, four days after the spacecraft
flew past the planet, to observe the appearance of Saturn and its rings
from this unique perspective. A few of the spokelike ring features discovered by Voyager appear in the rings as bright patches in this image, taken at a distance of 5.3 million km from the planet. Saturn's shadow falls upon the rings, and the bright Saturn crescent is seen through all but the densest portion of the rings. |
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