Who or What is a “Titan?” Wallace E. Finn Comparative Planetology March,

“Titan” Who or what is a Titan? When was it discovered and by who? What does it look like? Has it been explored? What did we find out? What is inside Titan? Titan in science fiction. Origins in Greek Mythology

Who or What is a “Titan”? A movie about Greek Mythology? 26 March 2010 Remake is due in theaters!!! One day late for the 355 th anniversary of an important discovery!(More on this later).

1971 AAA Virginia State Champions

A football team from a Disney Movie? “Remember the Titans”?

A Pick up truck? 2004 Nissan Titan

An AFC Team? Tennessee Titans (Used to be the Houston Oilers)

No, Titan is a Moon of Saturn! Slightly egg shaped due to rotation. (Photo is a little distorted)

Discovered March 25, 1655 With his 50X telescope Christian Huygens discovered it by accident! Voyager I and II flew by it and took pictures but the dense atmosphere made pictures of its surface impossible. Cassini delivered the “Huygens” probe to its surface in 2005.

Cassini Probe Photo Surface of Titan has frozen water ice “rocks” and hydrocarbon surface. Only moon with an atmosphere! Tectonic activity! Volcanoes that spew ammonia and water!

Data Dense atmosphere of 98% Nitrogen. If you could put wings on your arms you could flap your arms and fly on Titan! Larger than Mercury and pluto! 50% larger than our moon F

Inside Titan Titan has liquid water and ammonia mixture under its surface! A lot of pressure keeps the water and ammonia from freezing! Has a “silicate” core.

Elements of Titan Hundreds of times more liquid hydrocarbons than all of Earth’s fossil fuels! Falls as rain and collects in large lakes on the surface! Solid carbon based molecules dwarf Earth’s Coal supplies! Contains “Tholins” prebiotic chemicals essential for the beginning of carbon based life forms!

Arthur C. Clark Described Titan as a sort of galactic fueling station in his science fiction. In his book, Titan was mined for its raw materials as energy sources for future space transport. In the year 2276 though they face a problem!

Greek Mythology The “Titans” were a race of powerful deities who ruled during the golden age. There were 12 Titans; 6 male “Titanes” and 6 female “Titanides”. The youngest was Cronus (Roman deity- Saturn) who ruled them all!

Summary The word “Titan” is used in many ways today. It’s origins are from Greek mythology. Titan, a moon of Saturn, has a very interesting make up! Titan has been the topic of science fiction novels.

References “Clash of the Titans.”Image.Internet Movie Data. 24 Mar. 2009http:// “Original ’71 Titans” Image. Original ’71 Titans Homepage. 27 March 2009http:// Porco, Carolyn. “Titan.” World Book Online Reference Center World Book inc. Seeds, Michael. The Solar System. Belmont: Thompson, Brooks/Cole, 2007.

References Continued “Tennessee Titans”Image.ESPN. 18 Mar.2009 Wikipedia. “Titan Mythology”, 27 March, 2009,