MOON PROFILE TITAN
All About Space|Issue 130
Saturn's biggest moon is a harsh, uninhabitable world, yet has uncanny similarities to our home planet
MOON PROFILE TITAN

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.

この蚘事は All About Space の Issue 130 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

この蚘事は All About Space の Issue 130 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

ALL ABOUT SPACEのその他の蚘事すべお衚瀺
MYSTERIES OF THE UNI WHERE ARE ALL THE SPIRAL GALAXIES?
All About Space UK

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

time-read
7 分  |
Issue 161
ZOMBIE STARS
All About Space UK

ZOMBIE STARS

+10 OTHER TERRIFYING SPACE OBJECTS

time-read
8 分  |
Issue 161
HOW TO BEAT LIGHT POLLUTION
All About Space UK

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

time-read
2 分  |
Issue 161
15 STUNNING STAR CLUSTERS
All About Space UK

15 STUNNING STAR CLUSTERS

These beautiful stellar groupings are spattered across the cosmos

time-read
8 分  |
Issue 161
Eileen Collins "It was a difficult mission...we were the first to see Mir"
All About Space UK

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

time-read
9 分  |
Issue 161
MARS LEAKS FASTER WHEN IT'S CLOSER TO THE SUN
All About Space UK

MARS LEAKS FASTER WHEN IT'S CLOSER TO THE SUN

The Red Planet has lost enough water to space to form a global ocean hundreds of kilometres deep

time-read
2 分  |
Issue 161
FUTURE TECH KANKOH-MARU
All About Space UK

FUTURE TECH KANKOH-MARU

This ambitious reusable spacecraft will be capable of taking 50 people to and from orbit

time-read
2 分  |
Issue 161
THE FINAL FRONTIER
All About Space UK

THE FINAL FRONTIER

Beyond the reach of the Sun is a fascinating region of the cosmos that were only just beginning to explore

time-read
8 分  |
Issue 161
A long-lost moon could explain Mars' weird shape and extreme terrain
All About Space UK

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.

time-read
2 分  |
Issue 161
A sprinkling of cosmic dust may have helped kick-start life on Earth
All About Space UK

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.

time-read
3 分  |
Issue 161