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Physical Characteristics of the Titan Moon

Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is a difficult place to explore because of its thick hydrocarbon atmosphere. Even the fly-by NASA Voyager missions of the 1970s were unable to probe beneath the upper atmosphere. In 2005, the Cassini-Huygens probe was able to peer through the haze with radar and study the makeup of the giant moon's atmosphere. As such, the amount of physical data available regarding Titan has grown steadily.

General Statistics
- With a mass of 2.976 * 10^23 lbs. (2,976 followed by 20 zeros), Titan would be classified as a planet if it revolved around the sun instead of Saturn. It is approximately 760,000 miles from our sun. Titan both rotates around its axis and orbits Saturn in about 16 Earth days, meaning one Titan day is equal to a Titan year. Due to its distance from the Sun, Titan is extremely cold, with an average surface temperature of about minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit.
Atmosphere
- The major atmospheric gases of Titan include nitrogen, argon, methane and hydrogen. Nitrogen makes up between 90 percent and 97 percent of Titan's atmosphere. The host of trace gases found in Titan's atmosphere include carbon monoxide, ethane, acetylene, propane, hydrogen cyanide, ethylene, carbon dioxide, water, acetonitrile and cyanogen. The atmospheric pressure on Titan is 1.6 bars, which is much greater than the Earth's 1 bar. This equates to a 60 percent increase in surface pressure. Titan's cloud layers are generally much higher and thicker than those seen on Earth. They form between 125 and 200 miles above its surface. On Earth, clouds form between 7.5 and 20 miles above the ground.
Surface Features
- The thick atmosphere of Titan absorbs approximately 90 percent of the sun's light, making the surface a very dim place. Titan's surface remains a mysterious place, but vague features have been observed during fly-by missions. These features include large bright or dark areas, numerous craters, small, bright areas called "facula" that are sometimes linked in chain-like patterns, straight channel-like features that are similar to river beds, small, dark areas that are similar to dry lake beds and long streaks of color along the surface.
Mysteries
- The Hubble Space Telescope has produced images of Titan that suggest it has large continents and liquid sea-like features. Because Titan is so far from the sun, its atmosphere is in a constant state of deep freeze and could resemble an atmosphere similar to Earth's in its formative period. Also, because some of the compounds in the atmosphere are organic, it has been suggested that there is some basic form of life on Titan.

Nature