The tremendous pressure at the center of planets causes the temperatures there to be surprisingly high. At its core, Saturn reaches temperatures of 21,000 °F (11,700 °C), making it hotter than the surface of the Sun!

Determining the exact speed of Saturn's rotation was actually very difficult because the planet doesn't have a solid surface. Astronomers had to observe the planet's magnetic field, which completes a rotation every 10 hours, 32 minutes and 35 seconds.

In September 1979, Pioneer 11 flew within 20,000 km of the top of the planet's cloud layer. Images were acquired of Saturn and a few of its moons, but the resolution was not good enough to discern surface features.

In 1610, Galileo became the first person to observe Saturn's rings, though he could not see them well enough to discern their true nature. In 1655, Christiaan Huygens was the first person to describe them as a disk surrounding Saturn.

Saturn averages 886 million miles (1.4 billion km) from the sun, nine and a half times Earth's average distance.

The outer atmosphere of Saturn contains 96.3% molecular hydrogen and 3.25% helium, with trace amounts of ammonia, acetylene, ethane, phosphine and methane.

In November 1980, Voyager 1 sent back the first high-resolution images of the planet, its rings, and satellites, allowing researchers to see surface features of Saturn's moons for the first time.

Saturn was celebrated at what is perhaps the most famous of the Roman festivals, the Saturnalia, a time of feasting, role reversals, free speech, gift-giving and revelry.

With an average orbital speed of 9.69 km/s, it takes Saturn 29.457 Earth years to complete a single revolution around the Sun. This slow movement against a backdrop of stars led to the planet being nicknamed "Lubadsagush" -- or "oldest of the old" -- by the ancient Assyrians.

When seen from certain angles, Mimas resembles the Death Star, a fictional space station and superweapon from the Star Wars movies.