The planet has a bright and extensive system of rings, composed mainly of ice particles, with a smaller amount of rocky debris and dust.

The temperature, pressure, and density inside Saturn all rise steadily toward the core, which causes hydrogen to be a metal in the deeper layers.

[41] Standard planetary models suggest that the interior of Saturn is similar to that of Jupiter, having a small rocky core surrounded by hydrogen and helium, with trace amounts of various volatiles.

[42] Analysis of the distortion shows that Saturn is substantially more centrally condensed than Jupiter and therefore contains much more material denser than hydrogen near its center.

Jupiter's thermal energy is generated by the Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism of slow gravitational compression; but such a process alone may not be sufficient to explain heat production for Saturn, because it is less massive.

As the droplets descend through the lower-density hydrogen, the process releases heat by friction and leaves Saturn's outer layers depleted of helium.

[42] The quantity of elements heavier than helium (metallicity) is not known precisely, but the proportions are assumed to match the primordial abundances from the formation of the Solar System.

[59] Ultraviolet radiation from the Sun causes methane photolysis in the upper atmosphere, leading to a series of hydrocarbon chemical reactions with the resulting products being carried downward by eddies and diffusion.

In 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope imaged an enormous white cloud near Saturn's equator that was not present during the Voyager encounters, and in 1994 another smaller storm was observed.

[66] In images from the Cassini spacecraft during 2007, Saturn's northern hemisphere displayed a bright blue hue, similar to Uranus.

[77] NASA reported in November 2006 that Cassini had observed a "hurricane-like" storm locked to the south pole that had a clearly defined eyewall.

All other Saturnian latitudes, excluding the north and south polar regions, are indicated as System II and have been assigned a rotation period of 10h 38m 25.4s (810.76°/d).

[98] In addition, there is evidence of dozens to hundreds of moonlets with diameters of 40–500 meters in Saturn's rings,[99] which are not considered to be true moons.

[108][109] On 6 June 2013, scientists at the IAA-CSIC reported the detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the upper atmosphere of Titan, a possible precursor for life.

[111] Saturn's moon Enceladus, which seems similar in chemical makeup to comets,[112] has often been regarded as a potential habitat for microbial life.

[113][114][115][116] Evidence of this possibility includes the satellite's salt-rich particles having an "ocean-like" composition that indicates most of Enceladus's expelled ice comes from the evaporation of liquid salt water.

[49] The rings extend from 6,630 to 120,700 kilometres (4,120 to 75,000 mi) outward from Saturn's equator and average approximately 20 metres (66 ft) in thickness.

They are composed predominantly of water ice, with trace amounts of tholin impurities and a peppered coating of approximately 7% amorphous carbon.

[127][128][129] An MIT research team, supporting the latter theory, proposed that the rings are remnant of a destroyed moon of Saturn, named ″Chrysalis″.

[132] Pan and Atlas cause weak, linear density waves in Saturn's rings that have yielded more reliable calculations of their masses.

[157] In 1899, William Henry Pickering discovered Phoebe, a highly irregular satellite that does not rotate synchronously with Saturn as the larger moons do.

During the early 20th century, research on Titan led to the confirmation in 1944 that it had a thick atmosphere—a feature unique among the Solar System's moons.

Cassini's flyby of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, captured radar images of large lakes and their coastlines with numerous islands and mountains.

In 2006, NASA reported that Cassini had found evidence of liquid water reservoirs no more than tens of meters below the surface that erupt in geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus.

[169] In October 2006, the probe detected an 8,000 km (5,000 mi) diameter cyclone-like storm with an eyewall at Saturn's south pole.

[171] In April 2013, Cassini sent back images of a hurricane at the planet's north pole 20 times larger than those found on Earth, with winds faster than 530 km/h (330 mph).

[175][176] Saturn is the most distant of the five planets easily visible to the naked eye from Earth, the other four being Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter.

Most people will require an optical aid (very large binoculars or a small telescope) that magnifies at least 30 times to achieve an image of Saturn's rings in which a clear resolution is present.

[179] In Christopher Nolan's 2014 science fiction epic Interstellar, in proximity to Saturn is a wormhole leading to a planetary system in another galaxy, whose central object is a black hole known as Gargantua.

The Endurance team enters the wormhole in the hopes of finding a habitable planet for humanity to settle as conditions on Earth deteriorate.