| “ | You want to know why I have rings, my blue watery friend? | ” |
― Saturn | ||
| “ | All of that is in the past, and you know it! | ” |
―Saturn | ||
| “ | I KI-I-ILLED MY MOONS!!! | ” |
―Saturn | ||
Saturn is a planet character in SolarBalls who debuted in "Pluto is a Planet again...?". He is the sixth planet from the Sun, and the second biggest planet in the Solar System.
Story
Saturn's apparent neglect of his moons is one of the starting reasons of the Moon Revolution. In particular, when it is revealed by Astrodude that it is theorized that Saturn killed moons to form his rings, he went to apologize to the other moons, which caused the whole revolution ultimately.
Saturn subsequently has a major story role in Jupiter is Missing! by guiding the moons of Jupiter to the Kuiper belt, implying he seems to know something about the reason Jupiter is losing his mind (despite denying it). In the Solar System by Size Arc, he gets Uranus' orbit and sees Jupiter in a terrible state next to the Kuiper Belt, so allies with the other planets to restore the old orbits.
He is also seen in Saturn gets his Moons back! trying to improve his relationship with his moons by learning their names.
In the The Solar System Trials he attends alongside the other planets and doesn't say much, but is primarily concerned about Jupiter and getting him to calm down so that what they did to the "fifth giant" would not be revealed to the Sun.
Personality
Saturn is a kind-hearted gas giant, but also sometimes unintentionally condescending and often embarrassing, often because of his tendency to endear people. He is sometimes shown to be proud of the fact that he has the largest rings in the Solar System, though not at an arrogant level and is very polite towards his fellow planets.
He is also rather sensitive, as shown in “Venus wants a Makeover!” when he starts to tear up to Venus calling him an idiot for accidentally poking his eye while he was "lending" him one of his rings. In the episode, “Why does Saturn have rings?”, when Astrodude mentions a theory that suggests that his rings were formed by the remains of his previous moons that were destroyed after getting too close to his gravitational field, he takes it very seriously and started crying before yelling that he killed his moons, and leaves the scene in tears. He also briefly has tears in his eyes while searching for Titan in "The Moons of Jupiter - Part 1". Additionally, in "What if the planets were ordered by SIZE? - Part 1", he initially thought that his rings made him the biggest planet, therefore get the last spot in the new order, which he cries about. He also cries when welcoming Jupiter back in "Jupiter IS BACK! - Part 2", but unlike the other times he's cried, this is a happy type of cry.
Saturn also loves his moons dearly but can be seen constantly mispronouncing and misspelling their names, except for Titan, who is his largest moon, and also his favorite (a fact that he tries hard not to show through his emotions in order to avoid hurting the feelings of his other moons). Titan is the only one whose name Saturn can correctly pronounce, which results with Saturn's other moons getting jealous of him. Saturn tries to be honest with them regarding the formation of his rings which petrifies the other moons, while awkwardly mentioning that he was never aware of the tragedy regarding the older moons who formed his rings as a result of their destruction. He asks the other moons for forgiveness, promising them that he would be more caring and careful towards them. Only Titan forgives him, making the other moons angry at Titan mentioning that since he was Saturn's favorite, it was way easier for him to forgive their parent planet.
In the Solar System Trials - Part 3, it was revealed through Saturn getting Enceladus's and Dione's names right that he had been practicing to memorize all 146 of his moon's names and repair his relationship with his moons, showing how much Saturn loves his moons, even if they don't give it back most of the time.
He, too, is afraid of Planet X, albeit differently to the way Jupiter is. Saturn is more in denial rather than paranoid. Unlike Jupiter, Saturn does not show remorse, which is unusually out-of-character for him (or at least he doesn't show it openly, since in the episode Jupiter IS BACK! - Part 1 he admitted only to Uranus that he still regrets what he did).
He also tends to call characters by names following the format "my (adjective), (adjective) friend" such as:
- My tiny, planetoid friend for Mercury
- My gigantic, gassy friend for Jupiter
- My dear, cyanish friend for Uranus
- My blue, watery friend for Neptune
Trivia
- Saturn is suggested to be the most light-hearted character in the series.
- Thus, he is considered to be the kindest planet.
- His favorite part of the Star Trek franchise is Deep Space Nine.
- Saturn speaks with a Transatlantic accent.
- Saturn’s E ring is made by Enceladus, though this is never mentioned. The E ring would still stay even when his rings disappear, which is also not mentioned.
- He will do anything to protect Jupiter.
- In “The Solar System Trials - Part 3”, it is revealed that Saturn has started to practice memorizing his moons’ names.
- During some of his earliest appearances, Saturn had a slightly deeper voice.
- Saturn’s outer five moons are named after the Titans (Titan, Iapetus) and Titanesses (Tethys, Dione, Rhea).
- He is one of thirteen characters to have their own plush, the others being Earth, Venus, the Moon, Titan, Astrodude, Jupiter, Planet X, the Sun, Uranus, Neptune, Proto-Earth, and Theia.
- The rings on his plush are removable.
- He is the 3rd largest object (in terms of both radius and mass) in the Solar System, falling after only the Sun and Jupiter but before the ice giants.
- Despite being massive, Saturn is the least dense planet, having a density of .69 g/cm^3, even less dense than water (which has a density of about 1 g/cm^3). Because of this, even though Saturn is almost the same size as Jupiter, he is less than 1/3rd of his mass.
- Despite his rings being more prominent than Uranus', studies suggest his rings are younger (100-400 million years old, while Uranus' are likely up to 600 million years old). Saturn's rings are also slowly disappearing (will possibly be gone in 100+ million years).
- It is believed that Saturn had another large hypothetical moon named Chrysalis, which may have been destroyed by Saturn's Roche limit, leading to the formation of Saturn's rings. Because this is a theory (and not a hypothesis), it is highly likely to be true, and is most likely the cause of Saturn's axial tilt of 26.7 degrees.
- Weirdly enough, while some characters have their mean radius listed in SolarCards, Saturn's radius is listed as 60,268 Km. In actuality, this is his equatorial radius, Saturn's actual mean radius is 58,232 km.
- Saturn is also the most oblate of all the (non-dwarf) planets in the solar system, with an equatorial radius of 60,268 Km (about 9 Earths) and a polar radius of 54,364 km (about 8 Earths).
- He is the planet with the largest number of satellites. As of March 2025 a further 128 moons have been discovered orbiting Saturn, bringing the planet’s total to 274.
- In "The Adventures Of Uranus And Saturn", he wanted to know Neptune's 'atmosphere care routine' that gives him his 'radiant' blue. While this isn't mentioned in the show, methane is what gives Neptune his blue color. However, Saturn also has a bit of methane in its atmospheric composition, making its north or south pole temporarily turn blue depending on its season.
- It's speculated that ammonia crystals are what gives Saturn his yellow color.
- Saturn's magnetic field and axis of rotation align almost perfectly. Despite the Dynamo theory saying that this shouldn't be possible, Saturn's magnetic field is stable despite being highly axisymmetric with the planet's rotation axis. (this is not mentioned in the series)
- Saturn produces aurorae like many other planets in the solar system, but Saturn can also create aurorae without solar winds. (this is also not mentioned in the series)
- Saturn's north pole has a hexagon-shaped storm, but this is never mentioned or shown in the series.
- Saturn also has a periodic storm called the 'Great White Spot' which encircles the entire northern hemisphere. This storm occurs roughly once per Saturnian year (29.4 Earth years). This is also not shown or mentioned in the series.
- Saturn has lightning which is 1,000-10,000 times stronger than earth's lightning. Saturn's lightning is also light blue in color. (again, not shown or mentioned in the show).
- While Neptune is often pointed at when it comes to possessing supersonic winds (winds faster than sound), Saturn also has supersonic winds at its equator. Wind speeds on Saturn vary depending on location but its equatorial winds go up to 1,800 km/h (1,100 mph). This too is not mentioned in the series, and it makes Saturn the second windiest planet in the solar system (Neptune being first with 2,100 km/h (1,300 mph) fast winds).
- The speed of sound on Earth is roughly 1,234.8 km/h (Saturn's speed of sound is 1,236 km/h)
External links
- Saturn on Wikipedia.
