Saturn has been visited by only a handful of spaceprobes over the
past 3-4 decades (Pioneer 11, Voyagers 1 & 2, Cassini-Huygens),
but it was truly the Cassini mission (2004-present) that has shown
us the uniqueness of Saturn's beauty, giving us views of Saturn
from above, to the side, and behind - views you simply cannot see
from Earth! Be sure to visit the Cassini homepage
(http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/) for some
breathtaking images collected over the years.
Some factoids
- Saturn is extremely large relative to our little planet. It
would take over 763 Earths to fill the volume that Saturn takes.
The only things larger in our solar system are Jupiter and the
Sun.
- Saturn hosts over 200 satellites, of which 60-some are in
known, stable orbits. Not even Jupiter has this many moons circling
it!
- The largest moon orbiting Saturn is Titan. It is the second
largest moon in the solar system, and is even larger than the
planet Mercury! It is covered by a thick methane atmosphere. The
Cassini mission dropped off a lander probe called Huygens. And
while the probe is long defunct, it returned a wealth of
information about the surface conditions on Titan - so much that
scientists are now beginning to discuss the possibility of a
primitive methane-based life form living there right now!
(http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/3517/what-is-consuming-hydrogen-and-acetylene-on-titan)
- While Saturn boasts a fabulous ring system, it is by no means
the only planet with one. Both Jupiter and Uranus, and possibly
Neptune as well, all have ring systems. Only the other planets'
ring systems are faint and tenuous. Saturn's is bold and beautiful.
If you have an opportunity to look at Saturn through even a small
telescope, you will easily see the rings. They are that
evident.
- Saturn has a moderately strong magnetic field, which means it
also has aurorae. The Hubble Space Telescope has been able to
capture images of aurora in the upper reaches of the Saturnian
atmosphere using ultraviolet light.
- At a mean distance of 1,443,449,370 kilometers (890,704,144
miles, or 9.5 AU) from the Sun, it takes sunlight 1 hour 19.7
minutes to reach Saturn.
Note, given that Saturn's orbit is not perfectly circular, the
distance between it and the Sun ranges from 9.0 to 10.1 AU. If 1 AU
were the equivalent of 1 mile, you will find the distance between
this cache and The Sun cache (GC10HDR) to be 9.75 miles. Keep the
distance to the Sun cache in mind when you are doing this, to give
you an idea of just how vast interplanetary distances are -
to say nothing of interstellar distances! At this scale the Sun
would be 366 inches (30.5 feet) across and Saturn would be a mere
32 inches (2.8 feet) in diameter. Earth, at this same scale, would
be 3.4 inches in diameter.
The cache you are seeking is a olive green magnetic
keyholder.