Titan

Titan is the largest moon of Saturn and the second-largest moon in the solar system (after Ganymede). It is larger than the planet Mercury and is the only moon known to have a dense atmosphere and stable bodies of surface liquid.

A World with Weather

Titan has a thick atmosphere composed mostly of nitrogen with methane and ethane clouds. This atmosphere creates weather patterns similar to Earth’s, including rain, rivers, and lakes—but made of liquid methane and ethane instead of water.

The Huygens probe, which landed on Titan in 2005, revealed dunes of hydrocarbon sand and pebbles of water ice. Titan’s surface temperature is about -179°C (-290°F), cold enough to freeze methane into liquid form.

Lakes and Seas

One of Titan’s most remarkable features is its hydrocarbon lakes and seas. The largest, Kraken Mare, is bigger than all of Earth’s Great Lakes combined. These liquid reservoirs are fed by methane rain and drained by rivers that carve channels through the icy bedrock.

Scientists believe Titan might have a subsurface ocean of liquid water beneath its icy crust, making it a potential habitat for extraterrestrial life.

Exploration

NASA’s Dragonfly mission, scheduled for 2034, will send a rotorcraft to Titan to study its chemistry and search for signs of life. This mission will help us understand whether Titan’s complex chemistry could support life in environments very different from Earth’s.