Exploring a New World: Titan as Revealed by Cassini's Radar

Title

Exploring a New World: Titan as Revealed by Cassini's Radar

Authors

Chuck Wood

Files

Description

Saturn's moon Titan is larger than the planet Mercury and has a dense atmosphere like a planet. Until Cassini and its atmosphere-piercing radar got to Saturn little was known of Titan. Now with ~30% of the surface revealed Titan is seen to have a very young surface, with deserts of dunes, rivers, and hundreds of lakes and a few large seas of liquid methane/ethane.

We can infer that Titan is dynamically active, possibly with erupting volcanoes, blowing sediments, rainfall and rising and falling lake levels. In the debate about what is a planet, Titan would be considered a planet in all ways - except that it orbits another one.

Loading...

Media is loading
 

Publication Date

4-11-2008

City

Grand Forks, ND

Exploring a New World: Titan as Revealed by Cassini's Radar

Share

COinS