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How large is Saturn compared with Earth?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Saturn
Saturn Saturn and its spectacular rings, in a natural-color composite of 126 images taken by the Cassini spacecraft on October 6, 2004. The view is directed toward Saturn's southern hemisphere, which is tipped toward the Sun. Shadows cast by the rings are visible against the bluish northern hemisphere, while the planet's shadow is projected on the rings to the left.

Saturn is significantly larger and more massive than Earth. While Saturn is 95 times as massive as Earth, it occupies a volume 766 times greater.12

Because Saturn is a gas giant, its physical dimensions differ from those of rocky planets like Earth. Saturn has an equatorial diameter of 120,536 kilometers (74,898 miles), making it the second-largest planet in the solar system. Due to its rapid rotation, the planet is highly oblate, meaning it is flattened at the poles and bulges at the equator; its polar diameter is approximately 10 percent smaller than its equatorial diameter.12

Additionally, Saturn’s mean density is much lower than Earth’s, measuring only about 12 percent of Earth's density. This low density is a defining characteristic of the planet, as it is composed primarily of hydrogen that exists in a liquid state under high internal pressure.21