100px|Saturn, photographed in July 2008

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter, with an average radius about nine times larger than the Earth's. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus (the Titan father of Zeus), the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol (♄) represents the Roman god's sickle. Along with Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, Saturn is a gas giant. Together, these four planets are sometimes referred to as the Jovian planets, meaning "Jupiter-like". Saturn has a ring system that is divided into nine continuous and three discontinuous main rings (arcs), consisting mostly of ice particles with a smaller amount of rocky debris and dust. Sixty-two known moons orbit the planet; fifty-three are officially named. This does not include the hundreds of "moonlets" within the rings. Titan, Saturn's largest and the Solar System's second largest moon (after Jupiter's Ganymede), is larger than the planet Mercury and is the only moon in the Solar System to retain a significant atmosphere. (more...)

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1639:

English astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks made the first observation of a transit of Venus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/transit_of_Venus

1829:

Sati, the Hindu funeral custom of widows immolating themselves, was formally abolished in British India after years of campaigning by Ram Mohan Roy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_%28practice%29

1909:

The Montreal Canadiens, the oldest professional ice hockey club in the world, was founded as a charter member of the National Hockey Association. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Montreal_Canadiens

1991:

Pan American World Airways, which was the principal international airline of the United States and which was credited with many innovations, ended operations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_American_World_Airways

2006:

Six black youths in Jena, Louisiana, US, assaulted a white teenager; the subsequent court case would become a cause célèbre. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena_Six

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

church key (n): A can opener having a triangular tip that pierces the can http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/church_key

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I realize that patriotism is not enough.

I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone. --Edith Cavell http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edith_Cavell