From its importance to Saturn, to how we might just be able to colonize it, and more!
Join us as we reveal to you Titan: Saturn's Largest Moon facts and history!
7.
History and Naming As with many objects in outer space, it's
important to not just understand what it is, but how it was discovered from here on Earth.
Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens was the one to find TItan in 1655.
Huygens was inspired by after Galileo found the four largest moons of Jupiter in 1610.
While also being impressed with how much Galileo improved telescopes as a whole.
So thus with the help of his brother he built his own telescopes, and eventually found TItan
as a result.
It was the sixth moon ever discovered, after Earth's Moon and the Galilean moons of Jupiter.
So quite an achievement in its own right, and again, one that was found via homemade
telescope.
That's a very special story if you think about it.
Because this is a tale of astronomers being inspired by others that came before them (in
this case Galileo) and wanting to mimic the success of those that inspired them...and
succeeding.
And they did it with telescopes that pale in comparison to the ones that we have now,
and yet they did it.
Inspiring indeed.
Now, as for the naming of the moon, it was first called Saturni Luna, which if you can't
tell was basically "Saturn's Moon" in Latin.
While the name was technically official for a while, even being put into a book of names
about the objects in the sky, things got a bit convoluted as more moons got found around
Saturn.
Why?
Because instead of names, they did numbers, with each moon being named "Saturn 1" and
so on and so forth.
Which on one hand makes sense because it seems easier to number things than name then.
But eventually that had a bit of a problem because Saturn's moons started to get discovered
in greater numbers.
In fact, more moons of Saturn have been discovered within the last few years bringing its total
to 82, and thus numbering them would've been hard for a whole host of reasons.
So, names were brought back into the equations...so to speak.
The name Titan, and the names of all seven satellites of Saturn then known, came from
John Herschel.
He suggested the names of the mythological Titans, the brothers and sisters of Cronus,
the Greek name of Saturn.
In Greek mythology, the Titans were a race of powerful deities, descendants of Gaia and
Uranus, that ruled during the legendary Golden Age.
They were then dethroned by Zeus after prophecy foretold of Zeus killing Cronus.
They remained in the world, and many other stories from video games to Disney movies
have shown them in a feud with the gods.
Thus, the name stuck, and the rest is history.
Not surprisingly, the solar system as a whole has names dedicated to not just the Greek
and Roman pantheons, but to others as well.
Which if we're being honest, paints a much more interesting picture than just giving
them numbers.
6.
Structure and Formation Titan’s internal structure isn’t entirely
known, which isn't too much of a stretch when you think about our attempts to study it,
but one model based on data from the Cassini-Huygens mission suggests Titan has five primary layers.
The innermost layer is a core of rock about 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) in diameter.
Around that core is a shell of water ice—a special type called ice-VI that is only found
at extremely high-pressures.
Around that is a layer of salty liquid water, on top of which sits an outer crust of water
ice.
As for the surface layer, well that is coated with organic molecules that have rained or
otherwise settled out of the atmosphere in the form of sands and liquids.
Keeping it all together is a dense atmosphere that is said to "hug" the surface in order
to keep it all in place.
So as you can see, this isn't just a moon, it's one that is very complex in terms of
what is within it.
Which isn't something you would expect to say about a moon.
That in turn begs the question, how was it made like this to be so different?
In truth, they honestly aren't that sure about how it got made or why it's so layered.
But some think the atmosphere provides a clue.
Several instruments on the NASA and ESA Cassini-Huygens mission measured the isotopes nitrogen-14
and nitrogen-15 in Titan’s atmosphere.
They found that it resembles comets that originated from the Oort Cloud—a sphere of hundreds
of billions of icy bodies thought to orbit the Sun at a distance between 5,000 and 100,000
astronomical units from the Sun.
What does this mean as a whole?
It means that Titan might have been made in the Oort Cloud during the early parts of the
creation of our solar system and NOT when Saturn was formed.
Which is a theory that applies to certain other moons and entities found within our
solar system that are currently "attached" to planets.
With 82 moons orbiting Saturn, there's a lot of potential for different origins.
Which makes it all the more important that we study each of the moons in order to find
out the truth.
5.
Orbits and Rotations Titan orbits Saturn once every 15 days 22
hours.
What's important to note though is that Titan is tidally locked in synchronous rotation
with Saturn.
That means that one side of the moon always faces the planet, and drastically affects
the temperatures on the moon and how the surface and atmosphere are affected.
The small, irregularly shaped satellite Hyperion that is nearby is locked in a 3:4 orbital
resonance with Titan.
But despite our knowing about it, it's unclear how exactly it formed and came to be in such
a relationship with the moon Titan.
A "slow build" of resonance if you will was deemed "unlikely" by models of the moon and
satellite.
Hyperion probably formed in a stable orbital island.
In contrast, Titan absorbed or ejected entities that got too close to the moon.
Before we continue to break down the moon known as Titan, please like or dislike the
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4.
Surface Though we lightly talked about the surface
of Titan itself, it's important to dive into it even more as it may play a part in the
future of humanity.
The surface of Titan is one of the most Earthlike places in the solar system, albeit at vastly
colder temperatures and with different chemistry that is important for reasons I'll get to.
Here it is so cold (-290 degrees Fahrenheit or -179 degrees Celsius) that water ice plays
the role of rock.
There is also a chance that the moon has volcanoes on it!
But instead of liquid hot magma it has more of a water or ice flow that would come out
of its top.
Titan’s surface is sculpted by flowing methane and ethane.
Which in turn makes lakes full of liquid natural gas, as well as river channels!
Which makes it a very curious place indeed.
And there's currently no other place like this in the solar system.
In terms of aesthetics, the tall, linear dunes are not unlike those seen in the desert of
Namibia.
Titan doesn't appear to have been pelted by rocks from space (in contrast to others moons
as well as planets like Earth and Mars).
Though some do speculate that it's possible Titan simple "erased" the impact craters over
time.
Which is similar to what Earth does via the changing weather factors as well as tectonic
activity.
Ironically enough, this kind of work appear to be like what might be on Titan although
scientists do not see evidence of plates like on Earth.
So further study is obviously still required.
There are many studying the surface of Titan because they feel it could be a potential
colony (more on that later) and thus some of the more mysterious elements are under
close scrutiny, and that goes double for the tectonic activity.
Because if the place is active, it could heavily affect our chances of trying to colonize there.
But that's not all we're looking at, its atmospheric content is also very important.
3.
Atmosphere When a planet is discovered, one of the first
things scientists often look for is to see how its atmosphere is comprised.
Moons are the same ways, especially they can vary wildly in regards to whether they have
an atmosphere or not, and if they do, what kind they have.
Titan is the only known moon with a significant atmosphere, keyword here is "significant."
What's more, its atmosphere is the only nitrogen-rich dense atmosphere in the Solar System aside
from Earth's.
Thus making it both special, and something to investigate in terms of a possible colony
site.
However... ...there's a catch to this that can't be ignored.
In 2004, the Cassini Space Probe suggested that Titan is a "super rotator" like Venus.
What does that mean?
It means that the atmosphere doesn't move at the same pace as the surface, rather, it
goes much faster!
Further looks at the moon show that Titan's atmosphere is denser than Earth's, with a
surface pressure about 1.45 atm.
It is also about 1.19 times as massive as Earth's overall, or about 7.3 times more massive
on a per surface area basis.
That's bad for life if you can't tell.
And it doesn't get better.
Opaque haze layers block most visible light from the Sun and other sources and obscure
Titan's surface features.
Which means if we were to live there we couldn't rely on the sun to power anything or to provide
any meaningful heat, thus Titan's colder temperatures.
Add to that the moon's lower gravity and that shows the atmosphere is far more extended
than Earth's.
Titan's atmospheric composition is nitrogen (97%), methane (2.7±0.1%), hydrogen (0.1–0.2%)
with trace amounts of other gases.
Some of which are VERY deadly to humans if inhaled.
So because of the lack of oxygen, any extensive time on Titan would have to be within a special
suit to allow for breathing, which is something humanity is already preparing for in regards
to the Mars mission.
But when you throw in the other factors, it doesn't really make for an appealing place
at first glance, or a second one.
Could these truly be overcome?
Absolutely, with the right solutions this could be worked through.
The problem is time, money, and whether it would be efficient.
2.
Pop Culture Not surprising, the attention that Titan has
gotten over the years by astronomers and scientists has led to the moon getting put into various
pop culture entities like TV shows, movies, and more.
In the 2009 film “Star Trek”—the U.S.S.
Enterprise comes out of warp in Titan’s atmosphere in order to sneak up on the Romulan
ship attacking Earth.
It was also “Star Trek Nemesis,” as well as an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
The film “Gattaca,” and the shows “Futurama” as well as the iconic anime series “Cowboy
Bebop" also featured Titan in some way shape or form.
In Marvel Comics, the mega-villain Thanos was from Titan, where his race, The Eternals,
built a paradise, until it wasn't one.
The TV show Eureka held a MAJOR plotline in one season where the citizens of the major
think tank town tried to send a craft to Titan to make a colony.
They didn't get there, but they planned for various real-life issues that they would've
needed to overcome.
Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, and Isaac Asimov, as well as legendary “Star Trek”
actress Nichelle Nichols have all written about Titan in one form or another in long
or short form stories.
The reason for this is simple, it's not just Saturn's largest moons, it has qualities as
we've shown that make it much different from other moons that we've seen.
And, when you say Titan in regards to the moon, most people know about it.
So why not use what you know?
1.
Could We Colonize Titan?
The idea of colonizing planets and moons is far from fiction, in fact humanity is planning
to go to Mars and start colonizing it within the next few years.
But after everything you have heard about Titan, you might wondering why many are considering
it.
And not just considering it, some even feel it is the "best candidate" for colonizing
right now.
"Titan is just covered in carbon-bearing material—it's a giant factory of organic chemicals", said
Ralph Lorenz, who leads the study of Titan based on radar data from Cassini.
"This vast carbon inventory is an important window into the geology and climate history
of Titan."
That means we would be able to use the gas deposits to help fuel our culture...whatever
we put there that is.
Plus, that's just one reason it could be a viable option.
As noted earlier Titan has an atmosphere, albeit one that isn't the best for humanity,
but it is there, and it's the moon with the most significant one in terms of what it does
and how it protects the surface in its own way.
Is it a perfect solution?
No.
Traveling there would be hard with our current technology and there would be hurdles that
need to be compensated for.
But it could work, if even only as a "next step place" to slowly expand outside of our
solar system.
Which is why many people continue to try and look at Titan and see just what we can do
to "make it work" and to "do the work" so we can eventually set foot on it one day.
Thanks for watching!
What did you think of this look at Titan and the facts and history of the moon?
Did you learn something new about the moon that you didn't know before?
Do you think we'll colonize it one day?
Let us know in the comments below, be sure to subscribe, and I'll see you next time on
the channel!