ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The moon will rise just before the sun on Thursday morning. If you’re up early enough to see it, you’ll also see the two biggest planets in our solar system just above it.
The waning crescent moon will rise at 5:34 a.m. Thursday morning. The sun will rise at 7:12 a.m.
Look up and right from the moon and you’ll see the bright Jupiter, followed by the fainter, but still visible, Saturn.
Here are some interesting facts about Jupiter and Saturn:
- Jupiter is the third brightest object in the solar system, after Venus and the moon. Earth has one, but Jupiter has 67 moons.
- Jupiter is the fastest spinning planet in the solar system. For all its size and mass, it sure moves quickly. In fact, the planet only takes about 10 hours to complete a full rotation on its axis.
- You cannot stand on Saturn. It is not like Earth. Saturn is made mostly of gases. It has a lot of helium. This is the same kind of gas that you put in balloons.
- Saturn’s beautiful rings are not solid. They are made up of bits of ice, dust and rock.
- It is very windy on Saturn. Winds around the equator can be 1,118 mph! On Earth, the fastest winds "only" get to about 250 mph.
- Saturn goes around the sun very slowly. A year on Saturn is more than 29 Earth years.
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