Twenty Questions About Saturn Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rings

Saturn's rings were actually detected by Galileo. He noted Saturn's odd shape, but he couldn't determine what was causing it. It was not until 1659 that Christiaan Huygens figured out that they were rings, although at first no one believed him. The rings are made up of rocks and ice particles.

Answer: 0.69

Saturn's density is so low, that if you could find a body of water large enough, Saturn would float! No other planet in our Solar System would float.

Answer: 95

The core of Saturn is rock, surrounded by a liquid metallic hydrogen layer, just like Jupiter.

Answer: Pioneer 11

Pioneer 11 visited Saturn in 1979. Pioneer 10 only went to Jupiter. The Pioneer spacecraft (Pioneer 10 and 11 both went to Jupiter) were nearly fried at Jupiter by the ions trapped in Jupiter's magnetic field. This info was important to the success of the Voyager missions.

Answer: 29

Saturn is so far away from the Sun, some 1,429,000,000 kilometers, that it takes over 29 years to orbit the Sun. Saturn is over nine times further away from the Sun than the Earth.

Answer: Agriculture

Saturn is the root of the English word Saturday. Sunday is named after the Sun, Monday after the Moon, Tuesday after Mars, Wednesday after Mercury, Thursday after Jupiter and Friday after Venus. In Greek mythology, Kronos is the equivalent god to Saturnus.

Answer: Hydrogen and Helium

Like Jupiter, Saturn's atmosphere consists mainly of Hydrogen (about 75 percent)and Helium (about 25 percent).

Answer: True

The rings of Saturn are not solid, even though they appear to be solid through a telescope.

Answer: 1 kilometer

Saturn's rings are incredibly thin. Even though they are at least 250,000 kilometers in diameter they're only about one kilometer thick. If you could lump all of the ring material into one body it would be about 100 kilometers across, very small indeed.

Answer: 120,000

Over 9 Earth's would fit across Saturn's diameter.

Answer: Cassini's Division

Encke's division is between the A and F ring. Maxwell division is between the B and C ring and the Guerin division is between the C and D ring.

Answer: Titan

Titan is the only satellite known to have a fairly thick atmosphere. The Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn will launch a probe into Titan's atmosphere. Titan is larger than Mercury and Pluto. UPDATE: The Huygens probe was successful in sending back much data on Titan.

Answer: Herschel

This impact crater is some 130 kilometers across, virtually a third of the diameter of the satellite. The impact, most likely, almost destroyed Mimas. Herschel discovered Mimas in 1789.

Answer: nitrogen

Small amounts of methane and argon are also in the atmosphere. The atmosphere is so opaque, the Voyager mission cameras could not see through the atmosphere. NOTE: The Huygens probe sent back many photos of the surface of Titan.

Answer: True

This may suggest that Titan experiences seasons.

Answer: Huygens

Christiaan Huygens was born in The Hague, Netherlands on April 14, 1629 and died there on July 8, 1695. Around 1654 he devised a better way of grinding and polishing lenses. Using one of his own lenses, he discovered Titan in 1655 (hence the name of Huygens for the probe to enter Titan's atmosphere). Another little known fact is that he patented the first pendulum clock in 1656.

Answer: Iapetus

Iapetus leading hemisphere is extremely dark. The trailing hemisphere is almost as bright as Europa, Jupiter's satellite. The difference was noted by Cassini. He could see Iapetus on one side of Saturn but not on the other side of Saturn. There are several theories as to why Iapetus has such difference in coloration, but more research is needed.

Answer: Enceladus

This may indicate that Enceledus is completely covered in a layer of ice. Enceladus is only about 500 kilometers in diameter and can be seen in a moderate size telescope, not bad for such a small object. Enceladus has craters, smooth plains, extensive linear cracks and ridges. Enceladus reflects 90 percent of the light it receives. NOTE: The Cassini probe has recently photographed geysers on Enceladus.

Answer: Titan, Rhea, Dione and Iapetus

Ariel, Miranda, and Oberon are satellites of Uranus, and Triton and Nereid belong to Neptune. Charon is Pluto's satellite.

Answer: Second

Saturn was the edge of the Solar System until the discovery of Uranus. Saturn's diameter is over 120,000 kilometers in diameter. Saturn is visibly flattened when viewed through a small telescope. No other planet is so oblate. Saturn radiates more energy into space than it receives from the Sun and this is still unexplained.