Titan: Saturn's Largest Moon

Flashcards summarizing key concepts, facts, and definitions related to Titan, Saturn's largest moon.

Titan

Saturn's largest moon and the second largest natural satellite in the solar system.

Atmosphere of Titan

Titan is the only moon in the solar system with a substantial atmosphere.

Liquid rivers

Titan has liquid rivers, lakes, and seas, making it the only place besides Earth where these exist.

Cassini mission

The Cassini spacecraft conducted multiple flybys of Titan.

Dragonfly mission

The upcoming Dragonfly mission aims to land on Titan to investigate prebiotic chemistry and assess its habitability.

Size comparison

Titan is 1.5 times bigger than Earth's moon and larger than Mercury.

Subsurface ocean

Titan is believed to have a subsurface ocean beneath its icy crust.

Habitability

Titan shows some promise for human habitation due to its thick atmosphere, solid ground, water ice, and presence of organic molecules.

Huygens probe

The Huygens probe landed on Titan's surface in 2005, marking the first landing on an outer solar system body.

Average temperature

The average temperature on Titan is around -179° C.

Surface composition

Titan's surface is primarily made of water ice and rocky material, icy crust may float atop global subsurface oceans, plus a thick layer of hydrocarbon haze.

Gravity on Titan

Titan has only 14% of Earth's gravity, could stay grounded but would feel like slow mo

liquid rivers

made up of not water but methane and ethane

inhabitants

too cold for human survival, lack of oxygen, thick haze, methane rivers and rain, extreme distance from earth