The Enigmatic Satellites of Saturn
Gary Peterson
Professor Emeritus
Department of Geological Sciences
San Diego State University
Saturn,...
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The Enigmatic Satellites of Saturn
Gary Peterson
Professor Emeritus
Department of Geological Sciences
San Diego State University
Saturn, everyone's favorite planet, is the second-largest of the outer giant gas planets and has the lowest density (0.7) of any planet. The others gas planets are about 1.5. In addition, Saturn has the largest satellite (Titan) in the Solar System. Titan is about the same size as Mercury of the inner Solar System. How can this be? It is suggested that Saturn/Titan started out as a binary gas planet pair. Early in it's history gases were transferred from the smallest (Titan) to the largest of the pair (Saturn), this making Saturn the least dense and Titan the most dense of any gas giant planet. Residual gases remain on Titan as ices, gases or liquids. Numerous collisions between numerous smaller Saturn satellites has furnished abundant icy debris released as ejecta. This ejecta has become the magnificent rings of Saturn. Phoebe (retrograde orbit) and Hyperion (prograde orbit) are probably captured comets. The enigmatic erupting Enceladus is probably due to a recent orbital event.
