Sources

Where the facts come from

Every factual claim on this site links to its source. This is the full list.

How we checked

Each fact was written alongside its source. Our build script stores the source text and, for every fact, checks that the key words and figures really appear in it. 136 of 136 checks passed when this site was last built (27 Oct 2026). Where we couldn’t find a NASA, JPL, ESA or USGS page that said it, we left the claim out.

Our own sums

The Bathtub Test, You on Saturn, the ring map and Moon Transit Catcher use figures from NASA and USGS pages, but the results (float or sink and the waterline, Saturn ages and weights, the 4,833 km gap in the ring map, the game’s speeds) are worked out by us. They are labelled as our sums.

Things that change

Moon counts go up, missions launch and end, and new studies change the picture (Titan’s ocean, the southern decagon). Facts like these are marked “checked 27 Oct 2026” so you know how fresh they are. Fixed facts, such as Pioneer 11’s flyby in 1979, don’t change. Where official pages disagree, we show both and say so.

Where official sources disagree

• Moons: 293 confirmed (NASA Saturn moons page, as of August 2026) or 274 (NASA Saturn facts page, NASA fact sheet, NASA Space Place, ESA); NASA’s main Saturn page says “dozens”.
• Equatorial winds: 500 m a second (NASA Saturn facts) or up to 400 m a second (NASA fact sheet).
• Mean distance from the Sun: 9.5 AU, 1.4 billion km (NASA Saturn facts); 9.6 AU, 1,429.4 million km (ESA); semimajor axis 1,432.041 million km (NASA fact sheet).
• The Cassini Division: discovered in 1675 (NASA) or 1676 (ESA); 4,700 km wide (NASA rings page) or 4,833 km by our sum from the NASA rings fact sheet.
• Titan’s ocean: thought to exist (NASA Titan facts) or maybe not global (NASA-led study, December 2025).
• Ring-plane crossings: about every 15 years, or every 13 to 16 years, on the same NASA Hubble page.
• Dragonfly: launch in 2028 and three years at Titan (NASA Titan page), or launch no earlier than July 2028, arrival late 2034, a 3.3-year mission (NASA Dragonfly page).
• Cassini’s arrival: 1 July 2004 (NASA) or 30 June 2004 in US Pacific Daylight Time (NASA Grand Finale page).
• Tethys’s density: 0.97 times water (NASA Tethys page) or 985 kg per cubic metre (NASA fact sheet).
• How far the rings reach: up to 282,000 km from the planet (NASA Saturn facts) or an E ring edge 480,000 km from Saturn’s centre (NASA rings fact sheet).

We left out ESA’s cloud-top temperature, because the two numbers given with it (150 K and −139 °C) don’t match each other.

All sources (31)

• ESA: Cassini-Huygens factsheet (3 facts)
• ESA: Facts about Saturn (4 facts)
• ESA: Saturn’s rings (4 facts)
• NASA Science: Cassini Grand Finale overview (4 facts)
• NASA Science: Cassini Titan science (1 fact)
• NASA Science: Cassini quick facts (1 fact)
• NASA Science: Cassini ring science (2 facts)
• NASA Science: Dragonfly (2 facts)
• NASA Science: Enceladus (9 facts)
• NASA Science: Hubble views Saturn ring-plane crossing (3 facts)
• NASA Science: Hyperion (1 fact)
• NASA Science: Iapetus (3 facts)
• NASA Science: Mimas (3 facts)
• NASA Science: Phoebe (3 facts)
• NASA Science: Pioneer 11 (2 facts)
• NASA Science: Saturn (4 facts)
• NASA Science: Saturn exploration (11 facts)
• NASA Science: Saturn facts (34 facts)
• NASA Science: Saturn moons (4 facts)
• NASA Science: Tethys (2 facts)
• NASA Science: The Day the Earth Smiled (1 fact)
• NASA Science: Titan (1 fact)
• NASA Science: Titan facts (12 facts)
• NASA Science: Voyager 1 (1 fact)
• NASA Science: Voyager 2 (1 fact)
• NASA Space Place: All about Saturn (3 facts)
• NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA): Saturn fact sheet; used for You on Saturn and the Bathtub Test (14 facts)
• NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA): Saturnian rings fact sheet; used for the ring map (3 facts)
• NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA): Saturnian satellite fact sheet; used for the Bathtub Test and Moon Transit Catcher (5 facts)
• NASA: Study suggests Titan may not have a global ocean (Dec 2025) (1 fact)
• USGS Water Science School: Water density (1 fact)