Talk:Saturn

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Ancient observations of Saturn

It would probably be a good idea to mention old Chinese, Indian and other observations of Saturn. At the moment there is too much focus on European observations.

Orbital characteristics

Hello everyone, first time on WP in order to comment something. Sorry for not being logged in. I just want to know why the orbital parameters from this article about saturn are not the same as http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/saturnfact.html Just explain how do you find these parameters, essentially eccentricity and semi-major axis (parameters of the ellipse)

i know it seems not a big difference, but it is significant.

Thanks -- 134.157.242.237 (talk) 15:11, 15 May 2012 (UTC)

The NSSDC fact sheet uses an epoch of Julian Date 2451800.5 (13 September 2000) to define the changing orbital elements. Wikipedia uses an epoch of Julian date 2451545.0 TT (Terrestrial Time), or January 1, 2000, noon TT. -- Kheider (talk) 16:14, 15 May 2012 (UTC)

Is there a reference for this calculation (website, article)? Because it's hard to check, I didn't find by myself. I found some ephemerid for Righ Ascenscion and declination in (Archinal et al, 2011), but I didn't find for elliptical parameters.

Thanks -- 134.157.242.237 (talk) 16:42, 15 May 2012 (UTC)

• Goto Saturn Barycenter (Major Body=6) at http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi?find_body=1&body_group=mb&sstr=6
• Select Ephemeris Type: "Orbital Elements"
• Select Time Span: Start=2000-01-01, Stop=2000-01-02, Step=12 h
• Generate Ephemeris

You will see 2451545.000000000 = A.D. 2000-Jan-01 12:00, EC= 5.57232E-02, A (Semi-major axis) = 9.582
--Kheider (talk) 18:21, 15 May 2012 (UTC)

Thanks a lot Kheider. If I read correctly the references it explains how to do. I used HORIZON but not very good apparently. Thanks for your time.

134.157.242.237 (talk) 08:24, 16 May 2012 (UTC)

Units - again

Why are speeds given in km/hr rather than ms^-1? Firstly, this is a scientific article and the Wikipedia standard recommends SI units, that is (again according to Wikipedia) MKS units. More importantly, I feel, units such as mph, km/h, knots etc. are only really relevant to terrestrial transport. In this example of wind speed on Saturn (which I would guess from the value that the author converted from 500m/s), I and, I suspect, most people reading the article, can readily visualise a distance of 500m and an object blowing past. A second later it's gone that far! Whereas, "Imagine driving along at 1,800km/h and sticking your hand out of the window." somehow doesn't give the same feel.

Also, why not state very large distances in scientific notation? When coming to a subject like this for the first time I usually want one, or two at the most, digits of precision and an order of magnitude. Having to count digits and commas makes it more difficult to take in the information at a glance, although I admit that in this case AUs give me at least a far better feel for the scale.

Sorry, I've just read the cloud layers section, where m/s are used. However, I still think this gives a better feel for speed than km/h even in an introduction. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chrisbaarry (talk • contribs) 01:15, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Well, km is an SI unit and hours are allowed per WP:UNITS and Non-SI units mentioned in the SI. Personally I have no issue with using km/h (or mph) for wind velocity since it is commonly used in news reporting and most people can directly relate to it. Finally, there is nothing at WP:NUMERAL that says large numbers must be listed using scientific notation. Personally I don't care either way, but many people prefer that large numbers with many digits of precision be typed out as a decimal number. Regards, RJH (talk) 16:57, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Picture of Saturn

Look at the picture of Saturn! Isn't it upside-down? Look at that picture upside down, and you'll see, that shadows and everything else becomes more logic...

178.250.39.103 (talk) 15:47, 4 June 2012 (UTC) User Pupicucek

The Sun is shining from the lower right. There really is no "upside down" in space. -- Kheider (talk) 16:51, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

No upside down for Earth, either... siafu (talk) 19:29, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

Atmosphere

Heat from Saturn's interior compared to the cooler upper atmosphere produce strong jet streams that travel in opposing directions.

Sidelight12 (talk) 19:11, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

False Assertion?

I query the statement in the article that Saturday was named after the planet, rather than after Saturn the mythological deity. Neither of the given references support it. At all. D.C.Rigate (talk) 13:48, 29 July 2012 (UTC)