BLOWN AWAY BY SATURN

Mar 28th 2011, 15:49 by E O Hatterpol | SATURN ORBIT

WELL, we've made it to Saturn's orbit, but I doubt we'll be here for long; Saturn's winds are the most turbulent oceans this blue whale has swam in for a while.  Our scientist-librarians have recorded wind speeds in excess of 1,100 miles per hour.  Can you imagine flying a kite in that?!

I used to think of Saturn as Jupiter's fiercely independent little brother; while Jupiter was off shouldering the burdens that all firstborn sons must shoulder, Saturn was like "Forget you!  I'll do whatever I wanna do!"  Then he went off to some seedy tattoo & piercing shop and had them attach a few rings.  "They're not tacky, they're art, man."

Saturn's rings are pretty schweet, though, as are some other features of our solar system's #2 gas giant: with 62 known orbiting moons (and countless "moonlets" in its rings), Saturn is definitely the most popular kid on the block; its best friend, the moon Titan, is larger than the planet Mercury and the only moon in our solar system with a respectable atmosphere; and, my personal favourite: Saturn is the only planet lighter than water.

That's right; in theory, if you were able to submerge all the planets in a cosmic glass of water, it would be the only one to float.  Kind of makes pool noodles seem like a joke.

Check back in with you at Uranus!  Until then, check my Twitter feed for updates between updates!