Titan is one of the most intriguing moons in our Solar System. From the outside astronomers sée a ball of golden-orange haze, but what's hiding beneath this atmosphere is what intrigues them - a freezing world with bodies of liquid. Planetary scientists are fascinated by Titan and its unusual contents. Titan, the largest moon of Saturn and the second-largest moon in the Solar System behind Jupiter's Ganymede, is an.. icy ball that stretches out to almost 5,150 kilometres (3,200 miles) in diameter, nearly 50 per cent wider than Earth's Moon. Due to Saturn's position in space, around 1.4 billion kilometres (870 million miles) from the Sun - nine times farther than Earth's average distance - its satellite Titan receives sunlight that is 100 times fainter than the light on Earth. This freezing world may be one that is inhospitable for humans, but its icy lakes are a close Earth analogue. These features have been the subject of many studies.
Though there are many interesting moons in the Solar System, Titan is the most Earth-like: it has an atmosphere and is rocky, but also has bodies of liquid on the surface with a rain cycle replenishing them. All of this happens on a moon that has a surface temperature of -179 degrees Celsius (-290 degrees Fahrenheit). Unlike Earth, there aren't lakes of water on Titan, as that would have been frozen. Instead, the lakes, rivers and seas are filled with liquid hydrocarbons such as methane and ethane. These complex molecules are capable of existing as liquids at such a cold temperature.
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MYSTERIES OF THE UNI WHERE ARE ALL THE SPIRAL GALAXIES?
There are far fewer spiral galaxies than elliptical ones in the Supergalactic Plane, and scientists are keen to discover why
ZOMBIE STARS
+10 OTHER TERRIFYING SPACE OBJECTS
HOW TO BEAT LIGHT POLLUTION
Thought it was impossible to observe the wonders of the night sky from towns and cities? Think again. Follow our tips and tricks on successfully observing through sky glow
15 STUNNING STAR CLUSTERS
These beautiful stellar groupings are spattered across the cosmos
Eileen Collins "It was a difficult mission...we were the first to see Mir"
Having served as both the first female pilot and first female commander of NASA's Space Shuttle, Collins boosted the involvement of women in space exploration to a whole new level
MARS LEAKS FASTER WHEN IT'S CLOSER TO THE SUN
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FUTURE TECH KANKOH-MARU
This ambitious reusable spacecraft will be capable of taking 50 people to and from orbit
THE FINAL FRONTIER
Beyond the reach of the Sun is a fascinating region of the cosmos that were only just beginning to explore
A long-lost moon could explain Mars' weird shape and extreme terrain
A long-lost moon could explain why Mars is so different from the other rocky planets in the Solar System. Today Mars has two tiny moons.
A sprinkling of cosmic dust may have helped kick-start life on Earth
Cosmic dust may have helped kick-start life on Earth. New findings challenge a widely held assumption that this wasn't a plausible explanation.