BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy Titan - Planet-sized Moon of Saturn

Titan was a mystery for three and a half centuries. It's a giant moon shrouded in impenetrable clouds, and has only recently begun to share its secrets. Why do scientists say it's like Earth? Is it time to book a vacation to visit the lakes and mountains of Titan?

Titan - Planet-sized Moon of Saturn

Exactly a week ago today (2014-03-06) the Cassini spacecraft made its 100th fly-by of Titan. The Voyagers had no instruments to probe Titan's smoggy atmosphere, but Cassini does. One such instrument is radar which can penetrate the atmosphere - this has also been used to map the surface of Venus, another body hidden by a thick cloudy atmosphere.

The Cassini radar data has been used to make a topographic map of Titan. You can see from the map that Titan doesn't have any high mountains like those on Earth or Mars.

The mountains - such as they are - on Titan have been named for the mountains in JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth, Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. For example, Doom Mons is named after Mount Doom where Frodo ended Sauron's reign by destroying the ring of power. Doom Mons on Titan

Seriously? This just makes me happy.

Yes, Jilly, seriously. There are also Misty Montes and Angmar Montes, among others!

I've just flown over the some of the seas and lakes of Titan!

I did have help from my computer and a NASA video that was made using radar data from the Cassini probe. It gives a 3D picture of the north polar region. The height has been exaggerated by ten times. Titan is really pretty flat and this makes the contrasts better. It's also had color added. If you were on Titan, things would be pretty hazy since the smoggy atmosphere filters out about 90% of the sunlight.

Titan - Extraterrestrial Land of Lakes

Saturn's largest moon Titan was discovered by Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens on March 25, 1655. The European Space Agency (ESA) probe that landed on Titan in 2005 was named for the moon's discoverer.

Titan Facts for Kids

Saturn's moon Titan is bigger than a planet. It's the only moon with a thick atmosphere. In fact the atmosphere is so smoggy, we can't see the surface. But the Cassini-Huygens mission has found out many of its secrets, including lakes and sand dunes and maybe volcanoes.

Supermarkets do a "basics" range - here is the basics version of Titan. For kids, for parents, or for those who just want the basics!

Eleven years ago today, on January 14, 2005, ESA's Huygens probe landed on Saturn's moon Titan. This was the first landing on an outer Solar System body, and impressive to land something that's over 800 million miles away. This was the first image from the surface of this alien world.

This is Ligeia Mare, the second biggest known liquid body on Titan. It's about 420 km x 350 km with shorelines that extend for over 3000 km. But it's not full of water, it's filled with liquid methane. (Natural gas on Earth is mostly methane.)

If that was the ink spot test I would say it looks like Fred Flintstone walking and carrying the catch of the day!

At the end of May this year, NASA's Cassini spacecraft was looking towards the night side of Saturn's moon Titan. This view highlights the extended, hazy nature of the moon's atmosphere.

Titan is a fascinating moon, the size of a planet.