An Audio Tour of the Solar System - excerpt \"Saturn\"
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EnglishVoice Age
Middle Aged (35-54)Accents
North American (General) North American (US General American - GenAM)Transcript
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moving further outward almost 880 million miles from the sun. We encounter the next gas giant, whose pale yellow color is evident as we approach the second largest planet in our solar system. And the sixth in our solar system is the most iconic ringed wonder called Saturn. Named for the Roman god of wealth and agriculture, nine times the diameter of our home planet. It is the furthest planetary object visible to the unaided eye from Earth. Like Jupiter, Saturn is mostly composed of hydrogen and helium gas and probably also like Jupiter, has a small, rocky iron nickel core surrounded by liquid hydrogen. It is the least dense planet in our solar system. It's less dense than water. Saturn would float in a hypothetical extraterrestrial ocean. Its signature feature are its rings, composed of ice and small rocks and dust that are divided into six distinct ringlets. While only 30 ft thick, they extend over 175,000 miles from the planet. Saturn has over 80 moons, but two are of real significance. Enceladus, the sixth largest of Saturn's moon and is the widest object in the solar system, much like Jupiter's Europa. It's an icy ocean moon. It is unique because it expels geysers of water and carbon monoxide, and methane and other gases vapours through its cracks in the icy surface. With apparent internal hydrothermal pleading, Enceladus may also harbor the hope for life. Saturn's largest moon and the second largest in the solar system, is tighten only slightly smaller than Ganymede. It is exceptional for having a significant nitrogen atmosphere 50 times the pressure of Earth's atmosphere, creating liquid lakes, seas and rivers of methane. A thick crust of icy water covers liquid water, ocean that may actually hold the potential for life.