5th Grade Planets


For this reason, astronomers have for years considered the possibility that hydrocarbon lakes and seas might exist on the surface of this misty moisty moon. The data derived from Cassini/Huygens validated this prediction. During its long and productive mission, now over, Cassini revealed that almost 2% of Titan's entire bizarre surface is coated wth gasoline-like liquids. Saturn, the smaller of the two gas-giant planets inhabiting our Solar System, is an enchanting world. It is dwarfed only by Jupiter, the larger gas-giant planet, and it is probably the most beautiful planet in our Solar System. Magical and mysterious, Saturn's lovely rings and tumbling moonlets of ice, evoke wonder in the eye of the beholder. Dr. Thomas and his team at Cornell University have tried to peer into the mysterious interior of the weird little Space egg that is Methone. They started out with the hypothesis that Saturn's relentless strong gravity pulls the little moon into an elongated shape, just like Earth's own large Moon raises ocean tides on our own planet. Then the team went on to calculate how dense the little moon would have to be for its own gravity to counteract those intense tidal forces and create its strange egg-shape.