Saturn Saturn orbits the Sun at a mean distance of 1.427 billion km with a period of 29.4577 tropical years. The orbit is inclined 2.49 degrees to the ecliptic, or Earth orbital, plane and has an eccentricity of 0.0556. At Saturn's distance from the Sun, it receives only 0.01 of the unit solar radiation flux that the Earth does. Among planets in the solar system, Saturn is second in size only to Jupiter; Saturn has an equatorial diameter of 120,660 km. Its volume would enclose about 769 Earth-sized bodies. Saturn's internal rotation period, defined by periodic radio emissions, is 10.657 hours. This fast rotation is responsible for Saturn's equatorial bulge and oblate shape. The equatorial-polar-diam