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Seturn

Seturn is cryed efter the Roman god o ferming SÄturnus an is namely for its mony rings. Efter Jubiter it is the neist biggest warld in oor Sun Gird an cuid fit oor Yird in it mony times ower. It is anither gaseous etin wi a thick atmosphere that haes ammonia crystals intil’t that gies aff a peely yella licht. The hail ootward atmosphere is made fae baunds like Jubiter, but no as thick or colourfae as its bigger neebor. The white plouks that kythes on an aff is antrin storms wi strang winds blawin up. Forder doun the’r a middle layer made fae a helium an hydrogen bree an syne a metallic hydrogen that haps a hert likely made o rock an iron-nickel. It taks Seturn 29.37 year tae gang-roond the Sun while its day is 10 houres an 37 meenits lang. This swith birlin gars it bumfle in the middle an the poles flatten oot. It is likely this fast throu the mellin o gases. It is tiltit taewards the sun muckle like oor Yird as it gaes aboot the Sun sae this is whit wey it haes seasons.

Abuin aw, Seturn is namely for its rings. It’s no the only warld that haes rings, but nae ither hae sae mony an sindry, an sae bonnie. At first astrologues in the 17t century cuidna jist mak oot the orra shapes by Seturn – whiles jalousin moons – but in 1655 Dutchman Christiann Huygens (1629-1695) richtly suggestit that the war thin rings aboot it. Awthegither the’r seeven heid groups o rings an ilka group haes hunners an thoosands o wee rings intil’t. In actual fact, naebody kens the full nummer. The rings fordest fae Seturn is some 75,000 mile oot.

For a lang time scientific speirars didna ken hoo the rings haed come aboot but progs sent thon gait haes confirmed that the rings is maistly made fae watter ice wi a bittie rock an stour. Fae 2004 until 2017 the aff-warld craft Cassini vizzied Seturn’s rings giein us back aw kin kind o uissfae scientific wittins. It is jaloused that wee sma moons gauin ower near tae Seturn that wis tore apairt or that material comin aff the bigger moons is whit feeds the rings. Ower lang ages the pairticles haes been drawn roond Jubiter but thay are fykie cheils, aye jiggin an dingin ane anither sae that the shape o the rings chenges ower time. The biggest, thickest an brichtest o the rings is cryed B Ring. At sindry times shaddas is cast aff B Ring fae kenspeckles thocht tae be toatie wee moons in amang the mass. It is a controvertit question as tae hoo auld the rings is, wi a wheen o fowk threapin thay are 50 or a 100 million year auld jist whiles ithers thinks that the rings hae aye been thare. Speirings fae NASA suggests that the rings is fawin doun on the planet Seturn muckle like a rain an that in anither 300 million year the rings will be tint.

Like Jubiter, Seturn haes mony moons – 82 that we ken o - sic as Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan, Hyperion, Iapetus, an Chiron. It wis aince thocht that the moons wis makkit aboot the same time as Seturn itsel but data gaithert bi Cassini suggests that the moons micht be faur younger – aiblins less nor 100 million year auld. The heidmaist moon for size is Titan at 3,200 mile abreed makkin it bigger nor Mercury and twyst the size o the Yird’s ain Moon. A thick haar o methane haps this moon giein it an orange colour but doun inside the’r a hert o rock an ice. But atween the twa the’r a landscape o hills an straths an islands wi a sea o ammonia lippin agin the land and hydrocarbon lochs aw gaits. Here the rain faws as methane an weirs awa the grund jist as the rain on the Yird daes. Titan is the only moon that haes a strang atmosphere. This is made maistly fae nitrogen but wi a bittie methane an hydrogen forby. It is a tickler for scientific speirars that Titan haes sae muckle methane in its atmosphere yet, as the Sun shuid brek this doun for ordnar. It is jaloused that a speshie o volcano maun aye be pittin oot mair methane.

moons