Saturn and it's 60+ moons is a mini solar system within our own larger system. It is the planet's planet, and like all the outer giant planets, it has a ring system, declaring it's beauty, maturity, and independance. One day it will leave our system and become a solar system in its own right.

If you look at Saturn from one of the poles it looks just like a huge astrological chart. The planet in the center stands for Earth, the rings for the signs or ecliptic, and the moons in and around the rings stand for planets. All that's missing are the spokes or lines that divide the signs of the zodiac. Saturn is not only a mini-solar system but also a huge and exemplary astrological chart in the sky!

A new ring, invisible and far beyond the observable rings, was discovered in February 2009. It's called the Phoebe ring named after the moon that orbits inside of it. The Phoebe ring is some 200 times larger than the regular ring system, at 7 to 12 million km distance from Saturn, and at an angle of 27 degrees to its equatorial plane, but it is only visible in the infrared spectrum.

Between the regular rings and the Phoebe ring are located most of Saturn's large or important moons, from Mimas, Enceladas, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan(largest), Iapetus, and Phoebe -in that order. All of the other moons are much smaller and farther away. All of the major moons except Phoebe are quite round and much like dwarf planets. Titan at 3200 miles diameter is larger than Mercury and were it to break away from Saturn and circle the Sun in its own orbit, it would definitely be considered a planet.

The Main Moons of Saturn

Saturn's full ring system as it eclipses the Sun and as seen from the Cassini spacecraft(2006).