Titan is larger than the planet Mercury and is the second largest moon in our solar system. Jupiter's moon Ganymede is just a little bit larger (by about 2 percent). Titan’s atmosphere is made mostly of nitrogen, like Earth’s, but with a surface pressure 50 percent higher than Earth’s. Titan has clouds, rain, rivers, lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbons like methane and ethane. The largest seas are hundreds of feet deep and hundreds of miles wide. Beneath Titan’s thick crust of water ice is more liquid—an ocean primarily of water rather than methane. Titan’s subsurface water could be a place to harbor life as we know it, while its surface lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbons could conceivably harbor life that uses different chemistry than we’re used to—that is, life as we don’t yet know it. Titan could also be a lifeless world.
FAQs
What does the Greek word Titan mean? ›
The noun titan comes from Greek mythology, in which the Titans were a race of gods. Today, a titan is someone who is god-like, or powerful and influential in a certain field.
What is planet Titan? ›Titan is the largest moon of Saturn and the second-largest in the Solar System. It is the only moon known to have an atmosphere denser than the Earth's, and is the only known object in space other than Earth on which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found.
Could life exist on Titan? ›Titan is not a pleasant place for life. It is far too cold for liquid water to exist, and all known forms of life need liquid water. Titan's surface is -180°C.
Is Titan bigger than the moon? ›Titan is bigger than Earth's moon, and larger than even the planet Mercury.” This mammoth moon is the only moon in the solar system with a dense atmosphere, and it's the only world besides Earth that has standing bodies of liquid, including rivers, lakes and seas, on its surface.
Who are the 12 Titans? ›According to Hesiod's Theogony, there were 12 original Titans: the brothers Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Cronus and the sisters Thea, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Tethys. At the instigation of Gaea the Titans rebelled against their father, who had shut them up in the underworld (Tartarus).
What does the name Titan mean biblically? ›International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Titans
ti'-tanz: In Judith 16:7, "Neither did the sons of the Titans (huioi Titanon) smite him." The name of an aboriginal Canaanitish race of reputed giants who inhabited Palestine before the Hebrews, and so used in the sense of "giants" in general.
Titan is the second largest moon in our solar system. Only Jupiter's moon Ganymede is larger, by just 2 percent. Titan is bigger than Earth's moon, and larger than even the planet Mercury.
Why is Titan called Titan? ›Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is named for the Titans of Greek mythology, which include Cronus (equated with the Roman god Saturn) and his 11 siblings. Titan is larger than the planet Mercury and more massive than Pluto, and, in significant ways, it resembles a planet more than it does a typical moon.
Is A Titan a God? ›The Titans, also known as the elder gods, ruled the earth before the Olympians overthew them. The ruler of the Titans was Cronus who was de-throned by his son Zeus. Most of the Titans fought with Cronus against Zeus and were punished by being banished to Tartarus.
Can a human be a Titan? ›The Nine Titans were fragments of Ymir's power. Humans who inherited them had the power of the Titans, which enabled them to transform into their inherited Titan at will, gaining its special abilities while retaining their human body and intelligence.
Is the water on Titan drinkable? ›
Europa's temperature in the daytime is -225 degrees and drinking something at that temperature would instantly freeze your throat. Titan would do the same as it's temperature is -182.55 °C. You'd likely be poisoned by dissolved ammonia.
Is Titan bigger than Pluto? ›Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is named for the Titans of Greek mythology, which include Cronus (equated with the Roman god Saturn) and his 11 siblings. Titan is larger than the planet Mercury and more massive than Pluto, and, in significant ways, it resembles a planet more than it does a typical moon.
Is there any oxygen on Titan? ›Titan's atmosphere is much colder, however, having a temperature at the surface of 94 K (−290 °F, −179 °C), and it contains no free oxygen. A troposphere analogous to Earth's extends from Titan's surface to an altitude of 42 km (26 miles), where a minimum temperature of 71 K (−332 °F, −202 °C) is reached.
How long is a day on Titan? ›The day cycle on Titan lasts 15.9 Earth days, which is how long it takes Titan to orbit Saturn. Titan is tidally locked, so the same part of Titan always faces Saturn, and there is no separate "month" cycle.
What liquid is found on the surface of Titan? ›Lakes of liquid ethane and methane exist on the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. This was confirmed by the Cassini–Huygens space probe, as had been suspected since the 1980s.
Is Titan a Greek name? ›Titan is an epic, gender-neutral name of Greek origin. Referring to the children of Uranus and Gaea in ancient Greek mythology, Titans were being of unfathomable power responsible for shaping the world.
What does Titan translate to in English? ›If you describe someone as a titan of a particular field, you mean that they are very important and powerful or successful in that field.
What does the Latin word Titan mean? ›The name is perhaps from titō "sun, day," which probably is a loan-word from a language of Asia Minor. The sense of "person or thing of enormous size or ability," with lower case, is by 1828. The Latin poets also used the name of the sun, and it later also was extended to descendants of the Titans (Prometheus, etc.).
What is a Titan vs a God? ›What is the difference between a God and a Titan? The Titans were gods, but they lost the Titanomachy and were banished to the Underworld.