Adorned with thousands of beautiful ringlets, Saturn is unique among the planets. All four gas giant planets have rings -- made of chunks of ice and rock -- but none are as spectacular or as complicated as Saturn's. Like the other gas giants, Saturn is mostly a massive ball of hydrogen and helium.  Distance from the sun: About 900 million miles, nearly 10 times as far as Earth is from the sun.

 

Year: About 29 Earth years.

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Day: About 10.7 Earth hours.

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Diameter: About 72,000 miles, nine times the size of Earth.

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Effective temperature: - 288 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Atmosphere: Hydrogen, helium.