TITAN: SATURN’S LARGEST MOON BY NINA DAVIS

BASIC FACTS Discovered by Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch Astronomer, on March 25, 1655 It was named after an ancient race of giant beings in Greek Mythology Orbits Saturn as the largest moon Distance from the Sun: 9.5 AU Atmosphere: 95% nitrogen (N 2 ) and 5% methane (CH 4 ) Christiaan Huygens Titan orbiting Saturn

BASIC FACTS Surface Temperature: -290F Tidally Locked to Saturn No moons 1 day= 16 Earth days I year= 29.5 Earth years (same as Saturn) Titan

TITAN’S SURFACE Diameter: 3, miles (about half the size of Earth and almost as large as Mars) Rivers, oceans, lakes, seas are made up of methane (CH 4 ) and ethane (C 2 H 6 ) Believed to be a subsurface ocean made of water (H 2 O) Titan An Artist’s Impression of Methane Marshes

TITAN’S SURFACE Air pressure is 1 1/2 times that of Earth ( millibars) Atmospheric pressure is 60% greater than Earth’s Scientist have stated that there is possibility of life, but not as we know it It is still the most Earth like (blank) in the solar system Layers of Titan Surface of Titan

DISCOVERING TITAN’S SECRETS Probe: Voyager 1 made the first flyby in 1980 Wasn’t able to take close up photos of Titan due to thick clouds Probe: Cassini space craft has made many flybys since 2004 It was designed to see through Titan’s thick atmosphere It was able to drop a small space craft called Huygens onto the surface in 2005 Composite photo taken from the surface of Titan by the probe, Huygens. Photo of Titan’s mountain taken by the probe, Huygens, on it’s descent onto the moon