Longest orbital survey of an outer planetOn 15 Sep 2017, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft completed the “Grand Finale” phase of its almost 20-year-long mission to study Saturn and its moons, burning up on its final dive into the planet’s atmosphere. This brought to an end a survey that had began 13 years 76 days earlier. Cassini uncovered many more records including the tallest ridge (20 km; 12 mi), the longest-lasting lightning storm (eight months) and the largest methane sea (400,000 km2; 154,000 sq mi).

Largest planetary ring systemThis record probably won’t come as a great surprise… The extensive system of rings around Saturn have a total mass of around 15.4 quintillion kg (16 quadrillion US tons). While this is more than can be found in the rings of any other planet, these discs of ice and rocky debris only account for a tiny fraction of the mass orbiting Saturn. The moon Titan (see opposite) by itself is around 8,700 times more massive than the ring system.

Largest hexagon in the Solar SystemSaturn’s northern pole is capped by a 29,000-km-wide (18,000-mi) hexagonal cloud system. First spotted in the 1980s by the Voyager probes, it’s still not known how this feature formed, and further studies have only added to the mystery. Each of the six sides is roughly 14,500 km (9,000 mi) long – that’s 2,000 km (1,200 mi) more than the diameter of Earth.

Most moons for a planetProving that we’re still learning about the Solar System, Saturn stole this title from Jupiter just last year in Oct 2019. A crop of 20 new moons took Saturn’s satellite total to 82, putting it three ahead of its Jovian neighbour. Inset right (bottom) is a map showing the orbits of all 82 moons and above is a snapshot of its largest moon, Titan. With a diameter of 5,150 km (3,200 mi), it’s bigger than the planet Mercury!

The sixth planet from the Sun is arguably the most distinct in our Solar System thanks to its rings. Although destined to come in second place to its neighbour Jupiter in the size stakes, this gas giant still boasts many incredible record-breaking features all its own; below are just a handful. And thanks to augmented-reality tech, you can conjure a virtual version of the planet from this very poster. All you need is to download the free AugmentifyIt® app from iTunes, Google Play or Amazon’s Appstore, then direct your device’s camera over this special “cARd” (right). Before you know it, you’ll be transported some 1.4 billion km (870 million mi) and marvelling at this ringed wonder… what are you waiting for?!

SATURN

If this has whetted your appetite for more extra-terrestrial records, we have an entire chapter dedicated to our superlative Solar System in the GWR 2021 book, out from Sep 2020. You can see all eight planets recreated in AR, as well as 3D models of the Sun and a rather quirky asteroid that we have come to fondly call the “space potato”! Still hungry for more? You can discover further “augmentified” astronomy and put your space knowledge to the test with the AugmentifyIt® quiz-card game (peapodicity.com). Find out more about the latest GWR book at guinnessworldrecords.com/2021.

Imag

es ©

NAS

A/JP

L/Ca

ltech

Diameter 4,879.4 km

Mass 3.301 x 1023 kg

Orbital period (year) 87 Earth days 21 hr

MERCURY

Diameter 12,103 km

Mass 4.86 x 1024 kg

Orbital period (year) 224 Earth days 13 hr

VENUS

Diameter 12,742 km

Mass 5.97 (1024 kg)

Orbital period (year) 365.25 days

EARTH

Diameter 139,822 km

Mass 1.8982 x 1027 kg

Orbital period (year) 11 Earth years 314 days

JUPITER

Diameter 6,779 km

Mass 6.4171 x 1023 kg

Orbital period (year) 1.88 Earth years

MARS

Diameter 116,464 km

Mass 5.68319 x 1026 kg

Orbital period (year) 29.44 Earth years

SATURN

Diameter 50,724 km

Mass 8.68101025 kg

Orbital period (year) 84 Earth years 6 days

URANUS

Diameter 49,244 km

Mass 1.0241 x 1026 kg

Orbital period (year) 164 Earth years 288 days

NEPTUNE

57,909,227D

istance fromthe Sun (km

)108,209,475

149,598,262227,943,824

778,340,8211,426,666,422

2,870,658,1864,498,396,441

The dark gap in the ring system is called

the Cassini Division, after astronomer

Giovanni Cassini.

SATURN