Manville Forsyth, age 10, of Petersborough, Ont., for his question:

 What is the diameter of Saturn?

Saturn rates as the second largest planet of the Solar System. The planet itself is not much smaller than giant Jupiter. A good way to estimate the difference in sizes is to compare diameters and the diameter of a round body is, of course, a line from side to side straight through the center.

The diameter of Jupiter is 88,770 miles. The diameter of the planet Saturn is 74,200 miles ‑ almost ten times the diameter of the earth. The planet Saturn, however, is circled with golden rings, which we are told that they are composed of sunlit dust and debris. But they do reach hundreds of miles beyond Saturn' s equator.

Strictly speaking, we cannot include the rings in Saturn’s diameter. If we could, Saturn would have the longest diameter of any of the planets. This unfair planet diameter, including the rings, would be some 172,600 miles ‑ almost twice the diameter of Jupiter, who also has  rings.