Because Saturn is made mostly of gas, it has varying rotation speeds.
Because Earth is solid, its rotation period is 24 hours at every latitude.
Latitudes nearer the poles, however, have a shorter distance to travel in 24 hours, so they rotate more slowly.
Since Saturn is not bound together in a solid form, the gases at different latitudes rotate at different speeds and with different rotation periods, depending on their composition.
The planet’s core rotates once every 10 hours, 39 minutes, and 24 seconds.
Around the equator, the gas is faster, taking 10 hours and 14 minutes for one rotation.
Near the poles, the rotation period is 10 hours and 40 minutes.
Saturn’s fast rotation causes an equatorial bulge about 480,000 miles (768,000 km) larger than the polar diameter.
