Saturn is one of the most fascinating planets in our solar system. It’s the second largest planet in our solar system and is the sixth planet from the Sun. Saturn is a large gas giant well-known for its beautiful and multiple rings. We will explore the question of how long does it take Saturn to orbit the sun.
Image taken of Saturn by the Cassini spacecraft as it approached the planet.
Like the Earth, Saturn moves around the Sun. As Saturn is further away from the Sun it takes the planet longer than Earth to make a full orbit around the Sun, but do you know how long it takes?
It takes Saturn 29.4 Earth years to orbit the sun. To learn more about Saturn’s orbit and why it takes this long for the planet to orbit around the sun once, continue reading this informative article!
Saturn’s Orbit
All planets in our solar system orbit around the sun. The time it takes for a planet to complete one orbit is considered a year for that planet.
In the case of Saturn, a complete orbit around the sun takes 29.4 Earth years or 10,756 Earth days.
Why Does It Take So Long For Saturn To Orbit The Sun?
The Sun is the center of our solar system and every planet in the solar system orbits it. The time it takes for a planet to complete one full orbit depends on how far away it is from the sun.
Let’s look at the Earth as an example and point of comparison for Saturn. The Earth is the third planet from the sun and is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from the Sun.
It takes 365.2422 days for the Earth to orbit the sun. As a result our years are 365 days long. As you may notice this is a little longer than 365 days that we have in every year. To restore balance a leap year occurs every four years. However, over time the timing shifts due to the year being a little less than 365.25 days. Because of this other adjustments are made at longer periods.
In contrast, Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. It is 886 million miles (1.4 billion kilometers) from the Sun.
This extra distance means that Saturn’s circle of orbit around the Sun is much larger than Earth’s, resulting in it taking much longer to complete.
However, the length of Saturn’s orbit is nothing compared to a year on Neptune. It takes Neptune a whopping 60,190 days or 165 Earth years to complete one orbit of the Sun! While no longer classed as a planet Pluto is even further out.
Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion describe the speed that any planet moves in its orbit. The law states that any planet’s orbital period is proportional to the size of its orbit (its semi-major axis).’
To illustrate this principle let’s compare all of the planets in the solar system. All of the distances in this table are average distances as planets can move a little closer to or further away from the Sun during their orbit.
Planet
Distance from the Sun
Length of Orbit
Mercury
35 million miles (58 million km)
88 days
Venus
67 million miles (108 million km)
225 days
Earth
93 million miles (150 million km)
365.25 days
Mars
142 million miles (250 million km)
687 days
Jupiter
484 million miles (778 million km)
4,333 days (12 years)
Saturn
886 million miles (1.4 billion km)
10,756 days (29.4 years)
Uranus
1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion km)
30,687 days (84 years)
Neptune
2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion km)
60,190 days (165 years)
Hopefully, these numbers will give you an idea of our solar system’s size.
How Big Is Saturn?
Saturn is the second largest planet in the solar system as only Jupiter is larger. The diameter of Saturn is around 75 thousand miles (120 thousand kilometers.) In comparison, the diameter of the Earth is about 7,926 miles (12,756 kilometers.)
That means the diameter of Saturn is ten times larger than the Earth’s! As this is the diameter and Earth and Saturn are 3D spheres, the size difference between them is huge.
You could fit 746 Earths inside Saturn! If you imagine Earth being the size of a nickel, then a to-scale Saturn would be the size of a volleyball.
How Long is Saturn’s Day
It takes Saturn 10.7 hours to rotate on its axis. This is classed as a day on Saturn. It takes 24 hours for the Earth to completely rotate on its axis, so our days are 24 hours long.
The length of a day on Saturn is especially impressive when you consider how large the planet is compared to other planets in the solar system such as Earth.
What Are Saturn’s Most Distinguishing Features?
When most people think of Saturn, they think of three things. Let’s take a look at each of these.
It’s A Gas Planet
Saturn isn’t a solid planet like Earth. Instead, it is made of thick gasses. While scientists aren’t completely sure yet, they believe Saturn may have a solid core at its center roughly the size of Earth.
Saturn is 94 percent hydrogen, six percent helium with trace amounts of methane and ammonia.
If you could travel to Saturn and attempted to stand on the planet, you would sink until the gravitational pressure became too strong and crushed you. Although the toxic ammonia clouds would not be good for your health!
It Has Rings
The exact number of rings that Saturn has is still unknown. They are divided into four main groups and three narrower groups. Gaps separate each group. Each of these groups contains thousands of individual rings.
The most prominent gap is called the Cassini Division. Even in a small telescope, this gap is clearly visible.
The rings themselves are made of pieces of debris that are thought to come from asteroids, comets, and other celestial objects. This means the rings contain many small and large pieces of rock, dust, and ice.
Hi, my name is Jason Anderson, and I am a Physics Professor. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated with space, the universe, the moon, you name it. I spent hours and hours at the planetarium close to my hometown, wondering what else could be out in the universe.
Since then, I’ve been an avid stargazer and astronomer, and love nothing more than spending my time charting stars, observing planets, and finding constellations.
This is why I decided to start Telescope Guru. I only wish to share this fun pastime with the world. With this site, I hope to answer all of your questions relating to astronomy, telescopes, and stargazing.
