Editing Saturn (section)

== Rotation and orbit ==
Saturn's [[distance]] from the Sun is over 1,400,000,000&nbsp;km (886,000,000&nbsp;mi). This is about nine times the distance from the Earth to the Sun. It takes 10,756 days, or about 29.4 years, for Saturn to orbit around the Sun.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Saturn: Facts - NASA Science|url=https://science.nasa.gov/saturn/facts/|access-date=January 11, 2024|website=science.nasa.gov|date=10 November 2017 |language=en}}</ref> This length of time is known as Saturn's [[orbital period]].

[[Voyager 1]] [[Measurement|measured]] Saturn's rotation as being 10 hours, 14 minutes at the equator, 10 hours, 40 minutes closer to the poles, and 10 hours, 39 minutes, 24 seconds for the planet's inside.<ref name=mira2>{{cite web |url=http://www.mira.org/fts0/planets/100/text/txt001x.htm#orbital |title= Saturn: orbital and rotational information |work=MIRA: field trips to the stars: the Solar System |publisher= Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy|year=2006 |access-date=July 6, 2011}}</ref> These measurements are known as its rotational periods.

The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft measured the rotation of Saturn as being 10 hours, 45 minutes, 45 seconds ± 36 seconds.<ref name="SFTSRPiaP" /> That is about six minutes longer than the radio rotational period measured by the Voyager 1 and [[Voyager 2]] [[Spacecraft|spacecrafts]], which flew by Saturn in 1980 and 1981.

Saturn's rotational period is the rotation speed of radio waves given off by the planet. The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft found that the radio waves had slowed down since the Voyager spacecrafts flew by the planet. This meant that the rotational period had [[wikt:increase|increased]].<ref name="SFTSRPiaP">{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/cassini-062804.html |title=Scientists find that Saturn's rotation period is a puzzle |first=Carolina |last=Martinez |work=Cassini: unlocking Saturn's secrets |publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration |date=June 28, 2004 |access-date=June 24, 2011 |archive-date=August 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110829082445/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/cassini-062804.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Since scientists do not think Saturn's rotation is actually slowing down, they think that the magnetic field may be causing the radio waves.<ref name="SFTSRPiaP" />