Saturn has many, many moons, and they come in many varieties. In size, we have moons ranging from mere tens of meters across to the gigantic Titan, which accounts for 96% of all the matter orbiting Earth. Many people wonder how many satellites Saturn has.
Therefore, we're going to dedicate this article to telling you how many satellites Saturn has, the characteristics of each one, and how they were discovered thanks to scientific technology.
characteristics of the planet
Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun in the solar system, located between Jupiter and Uranus. It is the second largest planet in the solar system, with a diameter of 120.536 kilometers at its equator.
Regarding its shape, it is somewhat crushed by the poles. This shredding is due to its rather fast rotation speed. The ring is visible from Earth. It is the planet with the most asteroids orbiting it. Given its gaseous composition and its abundance of helium and hydrogen, it is classified as a gas giant. Out of curiosity, its name is derived from the Roman god Saturn.
A planet has asteroids orbiting it due to the effects of gravity. The larger a planet is, the stronger its gravitational pull, and the more asteroids it can accommodate. Our planet has only one satellite orbiting us, but it also has thousands of rocky fragments attracted by our gravitational field.
How many satellites does Saturn have?
Saturn's moons are divided into different groups based on how they orbit the planet (the distance they travel, their direction, their inclination, etc.). There are more than 150 small moons embedded within its rings (called circummollites), along with the grains of rock and dust that form them, while other moons orbit outside the rings at various distances.
Determining exactly how many satellites Saturn currently has is complicated. It is estimated to have more than 200 moons; however, only 83 can truly be considered moons because they have known orbits and are located outside the rings. Of these 83, only 13 have major diameters (greater than 50 kilometers).
More moons may be discovered over the years. One of the latest discoveries of 2019 was the addition of at least 20 satellites to that list. Many of Saturn's moons present quite different landscapes to what we have here on Earth, although some may support some form of life. Below, we'll take you a little deeper into some of the more notable ones.
Titan
Titan is a large, icy moon whose surface is shrouded in a thick, golden atmosphere . It is much larger than Earth's moon or even Mercury. It is the second largest moon in the solar system after Ganymede, one of Jupiter's moons.
In addition to its size, it is also notable for being the only celestial body (besides Earth) that has significant amounts of permanent liquid on its surface. Titan has rivers, lakes, oceans, and clouds from which methane and ethane precipitate, forming a cycle similar to that of water on Earth.
In larger oceans, there may be life forms that use chemical elements different from those we are used to. On the other hand, beneath Titan's enormous icy shell , we find a mostly water ocean that could also harbor microscopic life forms similar to those on Earth. If you are interested in learning more about this impressive moon, you can consult the article that explains Titan, Saturn's largest satellite.
Enceladus
The most distinctive feature of Enceladus is that we can find huge columns of salty water emanating from the interior of the subterranean ocean below its icy shell through the cracks.
These plumes leave behind a trail of icy particles that reach orbit, forming one of Saturn's rings. The rest falls back to the surface as snow , making this moon the whitest, most reflective, or brightest (albedo) surface in the entire solar system.
From samples of these plumes, it can be concluded that, in addition to the presence of chemical elements necessary for life, there may be hydrothermal vents similar to those on Earth's ocean floor, which also spout hot water. Therefore, it is very likely that Enceladus harbors life. If you wish to delve deeper into the characteristics of Saturn's moons , you will find fascinating information.
Rhea, Dione and Thetis
Rhea, Dione, and Tethys are very similar in composition and appearance: they are small, cold (down to -220ºC in shaded areas), and airless (except Rhea), with bodies that look like dirty snowballs.
These three sister moons orbit at the same speed as Saturn and always show the same face to it. They are also very bright, though not as bright as Enceladus . They are believed to be made primarily of water ice. If you're interested, you can read more about Mimas, another of Saturn's moons.
As mentioned earlier, Rhea is not airless: it has a very thin atmosphere surrounding it, full of oxygen and carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules. Rhea is also Saturn's second largest moon.
japetus
Iapetus is the third largest of Saturn's moons. Divided into two distinct hemispheres— one bright and one dark—it is one of the greatest mysteries of the solar system. It is also notable for its equatorial ridge, a series of 10-km-high mountains that encircle the equator.
Mimas
Mimas' surface is covered with enormous impact craters. The largest, 130 kilometers in diameter, covers almost a third of one side of the moon, giving it a very similar appearance to the Death Star from Star Wars. It also always shows the same face as Saturn and is very small (198 km in diameter). It is closer to Enceladus than to Saturn.
Febe
Unlike most of Saturn's moons, Phoebe is a fairly faint moon dating back to the early solar system. It is one of Saturn's most distant moons, at about 13 million kilometers from Saturn, almost four times farther away than its nearest neighbor, Iapetus.
It revolves around Saturn in the opposite direction to most other moons (and generally to other bodies in the solar system). Therefore, its orbit is said to be retrograde.
I hope this information helps you learn more about how many satellites Saturn has and their characteristics.
