Titan's atmosphere is orange. The moon's thick atmosphere hides its surface.
Click on image for full size
Image courtesy NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.

Titan

Titan is a moon of the planet Saturn. It is Saturn's largest moon. Titan is the second largest moon in the whole Solar System. It is larger than Earth's moon. It is even larger than two planets - Mercury and Pluto!

Titan has an atmosphere. Most moons don't. Titan's atmosphere is much thicker than the atmosphere of any other moon. It is even thicker than Earth's atmosphere.

The air on Titan is orange! We can't see through Titan's air, so we don't know much about the surface of Titan. We are starting to find out a little about Titan's surface, though. A robot spaceship named Huygens landed on Titan in January 2005. Huygens took some pictures of Titan's surface. Another robot spaceship, named Cassini, is taking pictures of Titan from space. It found lakes of liquid methane (natural gas) near the North and South Poles of Titan. Cassini also spotted clouds in Titan's atmosphere.

Some scientists think there is a tiny chance that life exists on Titan. Other scientists think that Titan is too cold for life. Titan is mostly made of ice. The moon has a strange history.

Titan was discovered by a Dutch astronomer named Christiaan Huygens. Huygens discovered Titan in 1655.


Last modified January 22, 2009 by Randy Russell.

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