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Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun, is home to a vast array of intriguing and unique satellites — 53 plus 9 awaiting official confirmation. Christiaan Huygens discovered the first known moon of Saturn. The year was 1655 and the moon is Titan. Jean-Dominique Cassini made the next four discoveries: Iapetus
The Moons of Saturn. Size Comparison. Titan by Voyager and Cassini. Titan is almost as big as Ganymede, and it is the only moon with a thick atmosphere. The Voyager 1 flyby of Saturn was designed to yield as much info as possible about Titan. It flew behind this moon, so that its radio signal traversed successive paths through Titan’s atmosphere.
Saturn has at least 150 moons and moonlets in total, though only 53 of them have been given official names. Most of these moons are small, icy bodies that are little more than parts
Like fellow gas giant Jupiter, Saturn is a massive ball made mostly of hydrogen and helium. Saturn is not the only planet to have rings, but none are as spectacular or as complex as Saturn's. Saturn also has dozens of moons.
Traditionally, most of Saturn's moons have been named after the Titans of Greek mythology, and are grouped based on their size, orbits, and proximity to Saturn.
Saturn has the most extensive and complex ring system in our solar system, extending hundreds of thousands of miles from the planet. Made up of billions of particles of ice and rock — ranging from the size of grains of sugar to houses — the rings orbit Saturn at varying speeds.
1981 — Using Saturn’s powerful gravity as an interplanetary “slingshot,” Voyager 2 is placed on a path toward Uranus, then Neptune, then out of the solar system. 1994 — The Hubble Space Telescope finds evidence of surface features beneath the hazy atmosphere of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.
