Posted on by Evan Gough

This is Why Saturn’s Rotation is So Hard to Measure

Like all gas giants, Saturn does not have a "surface" per se, but it does have many layers with different compositions. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute.

For a rocky planet, finding the length of a day can be simple. Just pick a reference point and watch how long it takes to rotate out of view, then back into view. But for planets like Saturn, it’s not so simple. There are no surface features to track.

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