In honor of this week’s Cassini Titan flyby (learn more about Cassini at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/), here are some cool facts about Titan, the largest moon orbiting Saturn. Don’t forget to answer the poll question at the bottom!
- Titan is the only moon in our solar system with an atmosphere, which is 370 miles high
- Light from the Sun is so dim, daylight on the surface of Titan looks like deep twilight on Earth
- Titan is a lot like the Earth because it has an atmosphere, seasons, tectonic processes, and rich organic materials (it’s like an ancient Earth but colder!)
Titan in front of Saturn, Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI
- The temperature of Titan is so cold, the water there is frozen, and the methane flows in liquid rivers and lakes
- One of Titan’s lakes is similar to the size of Lake Superior
- Titan appears to have an ocean of liquid water and ammonia under its surface
- Scientists are hypothesizing that Titan’s source of methane is coming from cryovolcanos (that spew slush!)
- Scientists guess that methane raindrops on Titan could grow twice as large as Earth rain drops, and fall at snowflake speeds
Rendering of ice mountains and methane lakes, credit: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/sciencenotfiction/2010/08/25/life-on-titan/#.U_ODYsVdW5I
- Titan’s ice mountains are named after mountains in J.R.R. Tolkein’s Middle Earth, the tallest known mountain being named after Mt. Doom
- Cassini carried the Hyugen’s probe, which landed on Titan on Jan. 14 2005, making it our first landing in the outer solar system
Flyby August 2014, Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI
Night Lights Above 