The most popular of Saturn's moons is not very large, but it's famous!

In 1788, William Herschel, a famous British astronomer, and scientist discovered one of Saturn's most famous moons, Titan, and named it Titan.

Titan is a giant in ancient Greek mythology. She was buried by Athena at the foot of Mount Etna because she lost to Zeus. However, Titan has no name. It is not a giant. It is only about 500 kilometers in diameter. In 1981, Voyager visited Saturn and photographed Titan. It was ice-covered, mountainous, with occasional grooves, deep craters, and broken ice fields, and the surface was extremely desolate. But more than 20 years later, this unassuming star has attracted a great deal of interest from scientists.

Cassini's adventure

When the Cassini-Saturn probe flew by the planet in February 2005, astronomers began to look at it with new eyes. It is generally believed that small objects like Enceladus do not have atmospheres. Because it's small, it has a weak gravitational pull and is not strong enough to attract an atmosphere. But the Cassini probe detected that Titan's magnetic field is distorted, suggesting that Titan has its atmosphere. The distortion of the magnetic field is the result of interference from charged gas molecules in the atmosphere. Scientists predict that Titan may have its atmospheric source, in which escaping material creates an atmosphere for it. If a small object has its atmospheric source, it is possible, though unlikely, that a thin atmosphere could form.

Cassini flew past Titan twice in March and July of the same year. At that time, it was already close to Titan. It was only 168 kilometers at the latest. Cassini took a very clear picture with their camera. As you can see, Titan's south pole is a geologically active hotspot where there is a tiger-like terrain 128 km long and 40 km wide. Amazingly, geysers are constantly ejected into the cracks of the tiger-shaped terrain like a mixture of water vapor and ice debris. They are ejected to an altitude of 430 km away, which is almost the same diameter as Titan.

This unexpected discovery has scientists excited. This makes Titan an important target for Cassini's exploration. Scientists have long believed that Cassini has discovered the most amazing thing about Titan and that it may also be the object in our solar system with life other than Io.

Solar system water search

Tests have shown that the geysers are a mixture of methane, propane, acetylene, and carbon dioxide. These substances carry large amounts of gas and are constantly escaping from the surface to form a thin atmosphere. The problem is that Titan's surface is very cold. How did this water vapor-laden geyser come about? The reason one can think of is liquid water. Scientists have long believed that the temperature under Titan's icy crust could be so high that large amounts of liquid water could be stored there.

The search for liquid water in the solar system is necessary to explore carbon-based organisms, whose existence is closely linked to water. Since the 1960s, scientists have continued to launch various probes to many planets and their moons in our solar system, including the moons of Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. But the results have always gone hand in hand with disappointment, and the disappointments have often been more numerous. in January 2005, the Huygens probe flew again to Titan with the Hope from its mother ship Cassini. Among Saturn's moons, Titan is a "giant" with a diameter of 5,150 kilometers. It is the largest of Saturn's moons, but it is of interest not because of its size, but because of its water- and gas-rich atmosphere. When the famous probe Huygens landed on the surface of Titan, it passed through the moist clouds. Its camera took pictures of rivers, beaches, and similar islands.

Finally, it landed on the muddy ground through thick fog. From the photos sent back by Huygens, the probe appears to have landed near an open river. It seems like liquid flowed through this river not long ago. Some small rocks were scattered on the ground. They are very smooth and round, much like the ordinary rocks next to rivers on Earth. Some of the photos taken by Huygens throughout the landing gave the impression that there is a lot of water on the planet. However, the "water" on Titan is not the same as the water on Earth. It has four hydrogen atoms and one carbon atom. This stuff is called "methane" on Earth. In the Earth's environment, it is a gas, but on Titan, it is a liquid. The reason for this is that the surface temperature of the planet is -180 degrees Celsius. At that temperature, methane becomes a liquid and they flow like water.

People are disappointed again. There is no surface for water on Titan. But will the mysterious Titan give scientists some hope? What puzzles scientists is that Titan is a very small planet, only 7/1 the diameter of the moon. how could such a small object eject so much water vapor and ice particles? Triton acoustic war's geysers are known to be mixed with liquid nitrogen, dust, or methane; Io has spectacular volcanoes; and Io has a flat icy surface. There may be huge oceans under the ice, but these moons are huge objects, and Titan is so small. How can it be so active and powerful?

Tiny Titan has become a great mystery in the minds of astronomers.

The mystery of Titan

Normally, the highest temperatures of some planets and moons throughout the planet should be near the equator, and the poles should be the coldest places, because the light from the parent star rarely hits anywhere, similar to Earth. Yet, inexplicably, the "hot spot" on Titan is at the South Pole. The results show that Titan's equatorial temperature is -183 ° C, and the South Pole's temperature is -170 ° C. As for the "tiger stripes" place, the weather is warmer. Planetary scientists, Cassini command team members John Spencer (John spencer) said: "This situation is shocking as if we found that Antarctica is warmer than the Sahara desert."

The theory that could explain this phenomenon is that Titan has an internal heat source, such as subsurface lava, which extends near the surface of the South Pole and heats up there. Titan is so far from the sun, about 1.3 billion kilometers, that sunlight has little effect on it. Some scientists also speculate that Titan may have undergone a major turnover. Due to the movement of stellar material, lighter material is slowly coming up inside Titan, causing the rotation axis to tilt, causing the entire star to flip, and eventually creating this "strange phenomenon" of heat distribution.

Even though Titan has a subsurface heat source, its surface is still too cold for liquid water to exist at such temperatures. Therefore, if there is liquid water on Titan, it must be coming from below its surface. Scientists speculate that liquid water may not be far from the surface of Earth. After being heated by a heat source deep underground, they release water vapor along with ice and other materials to form spectacular geysers.

But so far, the mystery of Titan has not been finally solved. What is baffling scientists is that they have to explain Titan, but so far the Titan mystery has not been finally solved. What has puzzled scientists is how Titan's internal heat is generated. There are many explanations for this question. The first is the compression of the upper ice and lower rocks; another is the decay of radioactive elements, which releases heat and melts Titan's core, creating a sub-ice ocean; others believe the heat comes from tidal friction, which causes the edges of the "tiger stripes" to rub together to generate heat. Which view is correct requires further study. As early as March 2008, scientists published a paper in which they analyzed the photos sent back by Cassini and found that the "tiger lines" are very similar to the fault lines at the junction of the Earth and terrestrial geological faults. They say that Titan's orbit around Saturn is a very flat ellipse. This orbit causes the ice on its surface to move along the fault line. During the motion, heat from frictional collisions generates large amounts of steam and vapor. When the gas pressure reaches a certain level, the ice in the fault line is pushed out, creating a geyser-like ice fountain phenomenon.

The star is born.

Almost all conjectures need scientific support, and scientists are hoping for Cassini's discovery. Back on March 12, 2008, Cassini flew close to Titan again at an altitude of 50 kilometers above its surface. Cassini found a very high density of water vapor in the jet stream. There are large amounts of ice particles and some complex organic matter that could evolve into complex compounds and even life. On Earth, the combination of these compounds eventually led to the birth of life. Other scientists have also claimed that Cassini provided data suggesting that liquid oceans may exist on Titan.

Cassini flew by Titan again on Aug. 11. This time, it was only 48 kilometers from Titan's surface. The Cassini probe took the opportunity to take many close-up photos of the "tiger-shaped terrain" at Titan's south pole. The geysers are emitting from the vents in a "tiger-like" manner. It is well known that life requires water and heat, both of which are already present on Titan. In addition to organic compounds, all kinds of life-generating elements are present on Titan.

Titan is not only a planet that is promising for life but has implications for the entire Saturn system. It is a dynamic and influential planet. in June 2009, scientists observed black auroras on Saturn, which may also be caused by jets on Titan. They estimate that the asteroid is ejecting 100 kilograms of material per second into Saturn's orbit, creating Saturn's "second aurora". In addition, some of the ejecta from Titan also enter Saturn's rings. In Cassini's photos, Titan can be seen orbiting the E ring, Saturn's outermost ring. Ring E is blue and consists of sparse particles of matter. It is thought that the particles in Ring E are from Titan.

Back in 2009, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory published the latest findings on Titan's geysers. After analyzing Cassini's photos, they concluded that the ejected material was very high, even supersonic, with the fastest one even reaching 2,200 kilometers per hour. If Titan did not have underground water, the ejected material would hardly reach this speed, suggesting that the moon may indeed have an underground water reservoir. Scientists are looking forward to another Enceladus flight by Cassini, which could also be the probe's last Enceladus flight planned for May 18, 2010.

Of all the moons in the solar system, Titan is the brightest known, with an albedo of 91 percent. It now stands out after planets such as Mars and Titan. It is considered to be the most promising for habitation. Enceladus Minor will be a striking "star" in our solar system.