Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest after Jupiter: a gas giant made mostly of hydrogen and helium, famous for its icy rings and its 274 confirmed moons. It is named after the Roman god Saturn, identified with the Greek Cronus, and the name was later taken up by a haunting painting by Goya, the Saturn V Moon rocket, astrology, a video game console and much more. This site gathers everything called Saturn in one place.
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Saturn the planet
From Earth, Saturn looks like a steady, pale yellow star. Babylonian astronomers already tracked its slow march through the zodiac. It is the most distant planet visible to the naked eye, about 1.2 to 1.3 billion km (750 to 800 million miles) away at its closest. Our section on planet Saturn covers its key facts, its atmosphere swept by winds of 1,800 km/h (1,100 mph), and the strange hexagon capping its north pole.
Saturn is the least dense planet in the solar system: its mean density is lower than that of water, hence the famous but misleading image of a planet that would float in a bathtub. It radiates about 2.5 times more energy than it receives from the Sun, probably in part because of "helium rain" deep inside its hydrogen envelope.
Rings and moons
In 1610 Galileo thought he saw two "ears" on either side of the planet. Christiaan Huygens realized in 1659 that they were a ring. Today we know that Saturn's rings are more than 95% water ice, span hundreds of thousands of kilometers, yet are often only about 10 meters thick. Their age is debated: the Cassini mission revived the idea that they are young, perhaps only a few hundred million years old (age of the rings).
Around the planet orbits a solar system in miniature. Titan, larger than Mercury, has a thick atmosphere and lakes of liquid methane; Enceladus sprays geysers into space from an underground ocean. These two worlds rank among the best places in the solar system to look for habitable environments (all of Saturn's moons).
Space exploration
Four spacecraft have visited Saturn: Pioneer 11 in 1979, Voyager 1 in 1980, Voyager 2 in 1981, and then Cassini-Huygens, a joint NASA, ESA and Italian Space Agency mission that orbited from 2004 to 2017. ESA's Huygens probe landed on Titan on January 14, 2005, the most distant landing ever achieved. Next up is NASA's Dragonfly rotorcraft, targeted to launch in July 2028 and reach Titan in 2034. The full story is in our Saturn exploration section.
Saturn V, the Moon rocket
In a completely different field, the Saturn V is the rocket that sent Apollo astronauts to the Moon. Standing 110.6 m (363 ft) tall and lifted by five F-1 engines, it flew 13 times between 1967 and 1973 without ever losing a payload, including Apollo 11 on July 16, 1969. Its name continues the Saturn rocket family developed by Wernher von Braun's team (Saturn V rocket).
The god, the myth and the art
To the Romans, Saturn was the god of sowing and of the Golden Age, honored at the Saturnalia festival in December, and identified with the Greek Titan Cronus, who swallowed his children for fear of being overthrown (Saturn mythology). That myth inspired one of the most harrowing images in art: Saturn Devouring His Son, painted by Francisco de Goya around 1819–1823 on a wall of his house and now in the Prado Museum. Our section on Saturn in art also explores Rubens, Holst and W. G. Sebald. The god's name lives on in the word Saturday and in the adjective "saturnine", meaning gloomy.
Astrology and pop culture
In astrology, Saturn stands for discipline, time and hard lessons, and the "Saturn return" around age 29 has become a pop-culture touchstone. Astrology is a cultural and symbolic tradition with no scientific support, but its cycles do follow the planet's real orbital period. Finally, the name Saturn went to a Sega console, a General Motors car brand, an SZA song and many other creations listed in our culture section.
To see Saturn with your own eyes, our guide on how to see Saturn explains where and when to look.
FAQ
What is Saturn?
Saturn is first of all the sixth planet from the Sun, a gas giant surrounded by icy rings. It is also the name of a Roman god, the subject of a famous Goya painting, the Apollo Moon rocket Saturn V and many cultural works.
Why is Saturn called Saturn?
The Romans named the planet after their god Saturn, just as the Greeks before them had linked it to Cronus. As the slowest planet visible to the naked eye, it was associated with the god of time and of the Golden Age.
How many moons does Saturn have?
Saturn has 274 confirmed moons, after 128 new ones were announced in March 2025. That is more known moons than any other planet in the solar system.
Can you see Saturn from Earth?
Yes. It is visible to the naked eye as a pale yellow point of light for about eleven months a year. A small telescope magnifying 30 times is enough to show its rings.