Saturn vs. Jupiter — What's the Difference?

Known for its elaborate ring system.

Famous for the Great Red Spot, a giant storm.

Titan, its largest moon, has a dense atmosphere and liquid hydrocarbon lakes.

Investigated by the Juno spacecraft, enhancing our understanding of gas giants.

The second-largest planet in the solar system.

The largest planet in the solar system with a strong magnetic field.

Has a lower density than water.

Home to the Galilean moons, including Europa, which may harbor an ocean beneath its icy crust.

Explored by the Cassini spacecraft, providing invaluable data.

Composed mostly of hydrogen and helium.

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth.

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth the mass of the Sun.

Roman Mythology The god of agriculture.

Roman Mythology The supreme god, patron of the Roman state and brother and husband of Juno. He came to be identified with the Greek Zeus.Also called Jove.

The sixth planet from the sun and the second largest in the solar system, having a sidereal period of revolution about the sun of 29.5 years at a mean distance of about 1.43 billion kilometers (891 million miles), a mean diameter of approximately 121,000 kilometers (75,000 miles), and a mass 96 times that of Earth.

(Astronomy)The fifth planet from the sun, the largest and most massive in the solar system, having a sidereal period of revolution about the sun of 11.86 years at a mean distance of 778.6 million kilometers (483.8 million miles), a mean diameter of approximately 143,000 kilometers (89,000 miles), and a mass approximately 320 times that of Earth.

The Southeast Asian butterfly Zeuxidia amethystus, family Nymphalidae.

A class of planets that are similar in mass to Jupiter.

One of the elder and principal deities, the son of Cœlus and Terra (Heaven and Earth), and the father of Jupiter. The corresponding Greek divinity was Kro`nos, later CHro`nos, Time.

The supreme deity, king of gods and men, and reputed to be the son of Saturn and Rhea; Jove. He corresponds to the Greek Zeus.

One of the planets of the solar system, next in magnitude to Jupiter, but more remote from the sun. Its diameter is seventy thousand miles, its mean distance from the sun nearly eight hundred and eighty millions of miles, and its year, or periodical revolution round the sun, nearly twenty-nine years and a half. It is surrounded by a remarkable system of rings, and has eight satellites.

One of the planets, being the fifth from the sun, the brightest except Venus, and the largest of them all, its mean radius being about 43,345 miles (69,758 kilometers), almost exactly one-tenth that of the sun. It revolves about the sun in 4,332.6 days, at a mean distance of 5.2025 from the sun (778,140,000 km), the earth's mean distance (the astronomical unit) being taken as unity. It has a mass of 1.901 x 1027 kg, about one-thousandth that of the sun, and more than the remainder of the planets combined. It has an average solar day equal to 9.842 earth hours. The rapid revolution causes a noticeable flattening at the poles; the diameter at the equator is 71,370 km, and at the poles 66,644 km.

The metal lead.

The largest planet and the 5th from the sun; has many satellites

A giant planet which is surrounded by three planar concentric rings of ice particles; 6th planet from the sun

(Roman mythology) supreme god of Romans; counterpart of Greek Zeus

(Roman mythology) god of agriculture and vegetation; counterpart of Greek Cronus;

Jupiter's magnetic field is the strongest in the solar system, far surpassing Saturn's, which is weaker but still significant.

The Galilean moons are unique due to their size, diverse geological features, and potential for subsurface oceans.

The Great Red Spot has been shrinking over the years, but it's uncertain if or when it might disappear completely.

Saturn's rings are slowly being pulled into the planet by gravity and may disappear in a few hundred million years.

The gas giants are inhospitable for human life due to their extreme pressures, temperatures, and lack of solid surface.

Yes, Saturn's rings and Jupiter's Great Red Spot can be observed with a moderate-sized telescope from Earth.

Saturn's rings are thought to be remnants of comets, asteroids, or shattered moons that were torn apart by the planet's gravity.

No spacecraft have landed on these planets due to their gaseous nature, but missions like Cassini and Juno have studied them extensively from orbit.

They are called gas giants due to their large size and composition, primarily of hydrogen and helium gases.

Saturn's storms are less visible and not as long-lived as Jupiter's Great Red Spot, but can still be massive in scale.

Titan is significant for its dense atmosphere and liquid methane and ethane lakes, making it similar to early Earth.

Their massive sizes and gravitational forces influence the orbits of other bodies and can help shield the inner solar system from cometary impacts.