----------------- 1787 - Titan, strange moon of Saturn.
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- The planet Saturn has 62 moons. Can you name the largest? Is this the largest moon in our Solar System?
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- The largest moon orbiting Saturn is Titan. It is the only planet - moon discovered so far with a liquid on its surface and the only moon with a dense atmosphere. Titan is larger than the planet Mercury.
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- But, the temperature averages -295 F and the liquid is not water it is more like liquid natural gas. The dense atmosphere is mostly methane and is so thick it hides the surface. The atmosphere is still 90% nitrogen. ( Earth’s atmosphere is 77% nitrogen ). Titans’ remaining 10% atmosphere contains argon, methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6), ammonia (NH3) and other hydrogen compounds.
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- There are fields of sand dunes but they are not silicate sand they are beads of organic material more like plastics. The rivers are flowing hydrocarbons, methane and ethane.
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- Our Sun’s ultraviolet radiation breaks down the hydrogen compounds releasing the hydrogen to escape into space leaving behind carbon and nitrogen. The methane and ethane in the atmosphere act as Greenhouse Gases. Still its surface temperature is not warmer than -180C with an atmospheric pressure 1.5 times that on Earth.
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- Methane in the atmosphere condenses and rains down on to the surface forming liquid rivers and lakes. If all the methane condensed at once it would become a global layer 23 feet deep. Do the same thing with the water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere and the global surface would add only 1 inch.
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- Sunlight is splitting the methane molecules into hydrogen and ethane and propane. The hydrogen gas escapes into space. These hydrocarbons that rain down on the Titan’s surface over time become solid particles that make up the “sand dunes”. They are called tholins.
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- The surface pressure on Titan is 150% that of Earth’s The average temperature is
-295F. The Saturn System tilts 27 degrees from the plane of its orbit . This tilt creates the 4 seasons. But, each season lasts 7.5 years as it takes Saturn 30 years to circle the Sun.
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- The methane lakes and seas cover 1% of Titan’s surface lying mostly in the northern hemisphere. Radar measurement have found lake depths down to 525 feet. Calculations for the total volume of surface liquid methane is 15 times larger than the volume of Lake Michigan.
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- Titan obviously has a complex chemistry. This makes it possible to produce organic compounds. When the Cassini Spacecraft sent the Huygens Probe to parachute through the atmosphere to the surface January 14, 2005 it found river valleys and shorelines created by lakes of methane. Instead of rock Titan has ice. Instead of molten lava Titan has water ice mixed with ammonia. Titan’s internal heat might still harbor liquid water along with plenty of organic chemistry. Titan’s origin and evolution are chronicled within the nature of its lakes and seas giving us an amazing glimpse of this strange new world.
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- Other Reviews available upon request:
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- #1363 - Titan is 3,200 miles in diameter orbiting Saturn in 16 days
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- #1144 - Titan’s average density is 1.88 grams/ cm^3
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- # 818 - Written in 2007. Titan’s atmosphere is similar to that on Earth some 4 billion years ago.
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- #555 - Written in 2005. Christiaan Huygens was the astronomer that discovered Titan in 1655. He was 26 years old and used a home made telescope.
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- #1786 See this review to learn about Enceladus one of Saturn’s smaller moons. The largest moon in the Solar System is Jupiter’s Ganymede.
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