SATURN

(image courtesy of NASA)

Saturn is the second largest planet in the Solar System. It is a giant ball of gas with clouds of water and ammonia swirling around its outer layers. Large seasonal storms called “great white spots” dot the planet. A strange six-sided vortex of clouds called the Polar Hexagon lies at its north pole. Saturn’s most prominent feature is its massive, but very thin, ring system made of billions of pieces of water ice.