“Saturn, first of all is a big giant gas ball, actually it’s a big giant ball of fluid, and the outer parts of it are gases atmospheres. But as you go deeper it gets hotter and hotter and gets more pressurized and so if you get down deep enough you start getting sort of fluid effects. ” 

 

Saturn is a big boy, but pound for pound, a cosmic lightweight. It’s big enough to swallow 765 Earths, but as the least dense planet, it would float on water. Like Jupiter, this is a world with nowhere to stand. With no solid surface, it’s hard to measure how long a day is, though the cloud tops go around about every 11 hours. But it’s what’s up above, not down below that will draw the crowds to Saturn.

 

“It’s just hard to imagine anything more beautiful than the ring system. They’re the first thing any kid with a telescope wants to look at.”

 

Spotting these rings from a backyard telescope is a treat. In an instant they can all but disappear when Saturn tilts toward the sun.

 

“The overwhelming thing that you as a space tourist would be struck by is how incredibly thin they are.”

 

“They are only no thicker than about one or two stories in a modern day building. Interested in seeing for yourself? Strap in Space Travelers, it’s quite a ride”

 

After seven years and a billion miles of space, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft faces its greatest challenge on June 30th 2004