Gas Giant
Saturn.
Rings 280,000 km across and a world light enough to float, if there were an ocean big enough.
Saturn right now
- From Earth right now
- 1,263,753,125 km
- Its light reaches us after
- 1 h 10 min
- From the Sun
- 1,410,846,468 km
- Speed around the Sun
- 9.75 km/s
- Around its orbit
- 79% of the way from perihelion
Worked out in your browser from JPL's orbital elements, the same maths that moves the planets in the 3D viewer. How far Saturn is from Earth right now, with miles, AU and the next close approach. Saturn is next opposite the Sun, up all night and at its brightest, on 18 October 2027.
Overview
Saturn at a glance
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the solar system, a gas giant best known for its bright ring system. Its 116,460 km diameter is nine times Earth's, but its average density is so low (0.69 g/cm³) that it would float in water. Saturn has 293 confirmed moons (JPL, October 2026), the most of any planet, including Titan, the only moon with a substantial atmosphere, and Enceladus, which sprays water from a global subsurface ocean.
- Diameter
- 116,460 km
- From the Sun
- 1.43B km
- Year
- 29.45 years
- Axial tilt
- 26.73°
- Moons
- 293
- Type
- Gas Giant
Size, to scale
Atmosphere
Banded and calm
96% hydrogen, 3% helium, with traces of methane and ammonia. Wind speeds reach 1,800 km/h (500 m/s) near the equator, about four and a half times the strongest hurricane winds on Earth. The hexagonal jet stream around Saturn's north pole, first seen by Voyager and confirmed by Cassini, has held its six-sided shape for decades.
Surface
No surface to stand on
No surface; like Jupiter, the gaseous envelope compresses into liquid metallic hydrogen further down.
Interior
Inside Saturn
Rocky core, metallic hydrogen layer, liquid hydrogen, gaseous envelope. The internal heat output is 2.3× the energy received from the Sun. Part of it is leftover formation heat, and part comes from helium rain, which releases gravitational energy as helium droplets sink through the lighter hydrogen.
Formation
How it formed
Formed beyond the snow line in the protoplanetary disc, where ice grains stuck together fast enough to build a massive core that pulled in hydrogen and helium gas. Models suggest Jupiter and Saturn migrated significantly during their first hundred million years (the "Grand Tack" hypothesis).
Orbit
Where Saturn is today
Average distance from the Sun: 1.43 billion km (9.54 AU). Orbital period 29.45 Earth years. Its axial tilt of 26.73° is close to Earth's, which is why we see the rings open and then turn edge-on across a Saturnian year.
Sunlight takes
1 h 18 min
to reach Saturn, and its reflected light needs 1 h 10 min more to reach us.
Moons
Saturn's major moons
- TitanTitan is the only moon with a dense atmosphere and the only place besides Earth with stable surface liquid (methane lakes).5,150 km · 1,221,870 km out
- EnceladusEnceladus has geysers that spray water ice into space. It has a subsurface ocean and is a prime target for finding life.504 km · 238,020 km out
- RheaRhea is Saturn's second-largest moon, an icy body with a heavily cratered surface.1,527 km · 527,040 km out
- DioneDione has bright ice cliffs and is thought to have a subsurface ocean.1,123 km · 377,400 km out
Missions
Who has been to look
- 1979Pioneer 11Past flyby
First spacecraft to fly past Saturn.
- 1980, 1981Voyager 1 & 2Past flyby
Detailed close-ups of the rings and major moons.
- 2004–17Cassini–HuygensPast
NASA / ESA / ASI orbiter; Huygens probe landed on Titan in 2005, the most distant landing ever.
- Launch 2028DragonflyIn development
NASA rotorcraft to fly through Titan's thick atmosphere.
Go further
See it for yourself
Fly to Saturn in 3D
Saturn's main rings, out to the narrow F ring, are about 280,000 km across, yet they are typically only about 10 metres thick, tens of millions of times thinner than they are wide. At the viewer's default scale that's a sub-pixel sliver. The rings are made of chunks of ice and rock, mostly from dust-sized grains to pieces as big as a house.
Keep Saturn on your screen
Set the screensaver to one world and it stays with Saturn: the whole disc, a close pass, the day-night line, all where it really is right now.
Saturn live wallpaper for Mac
Put Saturn on your desktop: the planet and its rings, with its shadow falling across them, rendered live in 3D behind your icons, one of over 80 live wallpapers.
Questions
Asked about Saturn
How old are Saturn's rings?
Probably young. Cassini found the rings light and clean, and the rate at which dust falls on them suggests they are no more than a few hundred million years old, far younger than Saturn itself, possibly the debris of a destroyed moon. The question is still debated, and some researchers argue the rings could be ancient.
How many moons does Saturn have?
293 confirmed (JPL, October 2026), more than any other planet.
Could you walk on Saturn?
No. Saturn has no solid surface to stand on.
Compare and follow Saturn
- Jupiter vs Saturn Side by side
- How far Saturn is right now Live distance
- Saturn at opposition 2027 Sky event
- The Day the Earth Smiled Famous photo
- In Saturn's Shadow Famous photo
Read more
Other bodies
- Sun Star
- Mercury Terrestrial Planet
- Venus Terrestrial Planet
- Earth Terrestrial Planet
- Mars Terrestrial Planet
- Jupiter Gas Giant
- Uranus Ice Giant
- Neptune Ice Giant
- Pluto Dwarf Planet
Sources & methodology
Numbers cross-referenced with the sources below; surface and atmosphere descriptions reflect findings as of October 2026. Renderings in the 3D viewer use textures based on Solar System Scope and NASA imagery.