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Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun, has the most spectacular set of rings in the solar system. We now know that Saturn has 18 moons, in addition to its complex ring system. Saturn isn't the only planet with rings, it is the only planet famous for them. Almost every image or drawing of the planet has the rings included. But few people know much about them or why they are there. Saturn's rings are made mostly of ice and rock pieces. It looks like one big band, but is actually many smaller bands combined. The particles range in size from a couple centimeters to over a kilometer in size. The rings are very thin. Although they reach diameters in the hundred thousands kilometers, they are no more than 1.5 km thick. So how can such a thin layer of ice pieces be so beautiful? The ice creates a rainbow effect much like a sprinkler does in the sun. The Sun's rays are refracted by the frozen water, giving us a colorful display!
STATS
Diameter: 119,871 km (74,500 miles)
Length of Day: 10 hrs 14 min
Length of year: 29.5 Earth years
Minimum Distance from Sun: 1.35 billion km (840 million miles)
Minimum Distance from Earth: 1.2 billion km (746 million miles)
Temperature: :-170o C (-274o F)
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