Compared to most places you might wander in the Solar System, Titan, the giant moon of Saturn, is in many ways strangely familiar to Earth.
Ripples in Saturn’s innermost rings indicate the planet’s core is not a compact, solid structure as some have theorized but more like a thick “soup” of ice, rock and metallic fluids extending across 60 % of the planet’s diameter.
Recently scientists have determined that no known process can be pumping out the amount of methane observed spewing from Saturn's moon Enceladus. That means it could be biological in origin.
A submarine mission to Saturn’s largest moon has long been under discussion. If such a mission was ever launched, it would have plenty of room to operate, because Titan’s largest sea, Kraken Mare, is likely more than 300 m deep.
The current tilt of Saturn's rotation axis is caused by the migration of its satellites, and especially by that of its largest moon, Titan. Titan and the other moons are moving away from Saturn much faster than it had been previously estimated.
New work reveals the likely original locations of Saturn and Jupiter. These findings refine our understanding of the Solar System's unusual architecture, including the ejection of an additional planet between Saturn and Uranus.
NASA scientists identified a molecule in Titan’s atmosphere that has never been detected in any other atmosphere - cyclopropenylidene, or C3H2. This simple molecule may be a precursor to possible life on Titan.
A recent study shows that Titan is drifting further and further from Saturn. And the rate at which it’s drifting is 100 times faster than expected. This suggests that Titan has been migrating to its current distance for 4.5 bil years.
A team of astronomers has created the first global map of Titan by using the Cassini probe's over 100 fly-bys to stitch together both imagery and radar measurements.
A team of German scientists recently examined data gathered by the Cassini orbiter around Enceladus’ southern polar region and found was evidence of organic signatures that could be the building blocks for amino acids.
Researchers have spotted surprisingly diverse landscapes on Titan, from broad planes to sandy dunes and even rivers and lakes. And recently a ribbon of exposed bedrock ice that wraps nearly halfway around the moon was spotted there too.
On its final flyby of Saturn's largest moon in 2017, NASA's Cassini spacecraft gathered radar data revealing just how deep some of Titan's lakes are (more than 100 meters) and of their composition.
New NASA research confirms that Saturn is losing its iconic rings at the maximum rate. The rings have less than 100 million years to live. This is relatively short, compared to Saturn's age of over 4 billion years.
Researchers determined hydrocarbons can form the type of complex chains that create Titan's orange-brown haze layers at temperatures as low as 330 degrees below freezing on Earth.
Hubble Space telescope snapped a series of stunning images of auroras dancing in the sky. The observations were taken before and after the Saturnian northern summer solstice.
