Titan

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Learn about the Cassini-Huygens mission to Titan, the largest moon of Saturn with an atmosphere of its own

Unveiling the mysteries of Saturn's moon Titan

The surface of Titan, as observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. The bright area is a surface feature roughly 4,050 km (2,500 miles) wide. The four images are composites based on 14 separate observations.

Hubble Space Telescope: Saturn and moons

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Titan summary

Titan

Q: Who discovered Titan?

Titan was discovered telescopically in 1655 by Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens . It was the first planetary satellite to be discovered after the four Galilean moons of Jupiter.

Q: Where did Titan get its name?

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.

Q: What is unusual about Titan?

Titan is the only moon in the solar system known to have clouds and a dense atmosphere. It is the only body other than Earth that is known to currently have liquid on its surface.

Q: What is the atmosphere of Titan composed of?

Titan’s atmosphere is similar to Earth’s both in the predominance of nitrogen gas and in surface pressure, which is about 1.5 bars, or 50 percent higher than sea-level pressure on Earth. However, its atmosphere is much colder, having a temperature at the surface of 94 kelvins (−290 °F, −179 °C), and it contains no free oxygen.

Q: What is Titan's haze composed of?

Titan’s veiling haze is probably composed of an aerosol of complex organic solids produced by solar ultraviolet light falling on the nitrogen-methane atmosphere. These particles absorb solar radiation and account for the deep brownish red tint. They are substantially dense even at altitudes as high as 300 km (200 miles) and pressures below one millibar.

moon of Saturn

Written by Bonnie Buratti, William B. HubbardSee All

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2024 • Article History

Recent News

Mar. 28, 2024, 5:43 AM ET (MSN)

Saturn's Moon Titan Captured By The James Webb Space Telescope

Mar. 19, 2024, 12:43 AM ET (Sci.News)

Tricarbon Molecule Detected in Atmosphere of Titan

Who discovered Titan?

Where did Titan get its name?

What is unusual about Titan?

What is the atmosphere of Titan composed of?

What is Titan's haze composed of?

Titan, the largest moon of Saturn and the only moon in the solar system known to have clouds and a dense atmosphere. It is the only body other than Earth that is known to currently have liquid on its surface. It was discovered telescopically in 1655 by the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens—the first planetary satellite to be discovered after the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. The moon is named for the Titans of Greek mythology, which include Cronus (equated with the Roman god Saturn) and his 11 siblings. In an Earth-based telescope, Titan appears as a nearly featureless brownish red globe, its surface permanently veiled by a thick haze. It 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.

Titan orbits Saturn at a mean distance of 1,221,850 km (759,220 miles), taking 15.94 Earth days for one revolution. It rotates once on its axis for each revolution—i.e., its rotation is synchronous—so that it always keeps the same face toward Saturn and always leads with the same face in its orbit. The diameter of the solid body of Titan is 5,150 km (3,200 miles), only about 120 km (75 miles) less than that of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system. If its hundreds of kilometres of atmosphere are included, however, Titan far exceeds Ganymede in size. Titan’s relatively low mean density of 1.88 grams per cubic cm implies that its interior is a mixture of rocky and icy materials, the latter probably including ammonia mixed with water and methane and possibly including liquid layers, covered by a solid, mostly water-ice crust. A rocky core may lie at the centre and extend to perhaps 80 percent of the total radius. In its bulk properties, Titan resembles other large icy moons of the outer solar system, such as Jupiter’s Ganymede and Callisto and Neptune’s largest moon, Triton. (For comparative data about Titan and other Saturnian satellites, see the table.)

Moons of Saturn
name	traditional numerical designation	mean distance from centre of Saturn (orbital radius; km)	orbital period (sidereal period; Earth days){1}	inclination of orbit to planet's equator (degrees)	eccentricity of orbit	rotation period (Earth days){2}	radius or radial dimensions (km)	mass (10¹⁷ kg){3}	mean density (g/cm³)
{1}R following the quantity indicates a retrograde orbit.
{2}Sync. = synchronous rotation; the rotation and orbital periods are the same.
{3}Quantities given in parentheses are poorly known.
{4}Co-orbital moons.
{5}"Trojan" moons: Telesto precedes Tethys in its orbit by 60°; Calypso follows Tethys by 60°.
{6}"Trojan" moons: Helene precedes Dione in its orbit by 60°; Polydeuces follows Dione by 60° on average but with wide variations.
{7}Average value. The inclination oscillates about this value by 7.5° (plus or minus) over a 3,000-year period.
Pan	XVIII	133,580	0.575	0.001	0		10	0.049	0.36
Daphnis	XXXV	136,500	0.594	0	0		3.5	(0.002)
Atlas	XV	137,670	0.602	0.003	0.0012		19 × 17 × 14	0.066	0.44
Prometheus	XVI	139,380	0.603	0.008	0.0022		70 × 50 × 34	1.59	0.48
Pandora	XVII	141,720	0.629	0.05	0.0042		55 × 44 × 31	1.37	0.5
Epimetheus{4}	XI	151,410	0.694	0.351	0.0098	sync.	69 × 55 × 55	5.3	0.69
Janus{4}	X	151,460	0.695	0.163	0.0068	sync.	99 × 96 × 76	19	0.63
Aegaeon	LIII	167,500	0.808	0	0		0.3	(0.000001)
Mimas	I	185,540	0.942	1.53	0.0196	sync.	198	373	1.15
Methone	XXXII	194,440	1.01	0.007	0.0001		1.5	(0.0002)
Anthe	XLIX	197,700	1.01	0.1	0.001		1	(0.00005)
Pallene	XXXIII	212,280	1.1154	0.181	0.004		2	(0.0004)
Enceladus	II	238,040	1.37	0.02	0.0047	sync.	252	1,076	1.61
Tethys	III	294,670	1.888	1.09	0.0001	sync.	533	6,130	0.97
Telesto{5}	XIII	294,710	1.888	1.18	0.0002		15 × 13 × 8	(0.07)
Calypso{5}	XIV	294,710	1.888	1.499	0.0005		15 × 8 × 8	(0.04)
Polydeuces{6}	XXXIV	377,200	2.737	0.177	0.0192		6.5	(0.015)
Dione	IV	377,420	2.737	0.02	0.0022	sync.	562	10,970	1.48
Helene{6}	XII	377,420	2.737	0.213	0.0071		16	(0.25)
Rhea	V	527,070	4.518	0.35	0.001	sync.	764	22,900	1.23
Titan	VI	1,221,870	15.95	0.33	0.0288	sync.	2,576	1,342,000	1.88
Hyperion	VII	1,500,880	21.28	0.43	0.0274	chaotic	185 × 140 × 113	55	0.54
Iapetus	VIII	3,560,840	79.33	15{7}	0.0283	sync.	735	17,900	1.08
Kiviuq	XXIV	11,110,000	449.22	45.708	0.3289		8	(0.033)
Ijiraq	XXII	11,124,000	451.42	46.448	0.3164		6	(0.012)
Phoebe	IX	12,947,780	550.31 R	175.3	0.1635	0.4	107	83	1.63
Paaliaq	XX	15,200,000	686.95	45.084	0.363		11	(0.082)
Skathi	XXVII	15,540,000	728.2R	152.63	0.2698		4	(0.003)
Albiorix	XXVI	16,182,000	783.45	34.208	0.477		16	(0.21)
S/2007 S2		16,725,000	808.08R	174.043	0.1793		3	(0.001)
Bebhionn	XXXVII	17,119,000	834.84	35.012	0.4691		3	(0.001)
Erriapus	XXVIII	17,343,000	871.19	34.692	0.4724		5	(0.008)
Siarnaq	XXIX	17,531,000	895.53	46.002	0.296		20	(0.39)
Skoll	XLVII	17,665,000	878.29R	161.188	0.4641		3	(0.001)
Tarvos	XXI	17,983,000	926.23	33.827	0.5305		7.5	(0.027)
Tarqeq	LII	18,009,000	887.48	46.089	0.1603		3.5	(0.002)
Griep	LI	18,206,000	921.19R	179.837	0.3259		3	(0.001)
S/2004 S13		18,404,000	933.48R	168.789	0.2586		3	(0.001)
Hyrokkin	XLIV	18,437,000	931.86R	151.45	0.3336		4	(0.003)
Mundilfari	XXV	18,628,000	952.77R	167.473	0.2099		3.5	(0.002)
S/2006 S1		18,790,000	963.37R	156.309	0.1172		3	(0.001)
S/2007 S3		18,795,000	977.8R	174.528	0.1851		2.5	(0.0009)
Jarnsaxa	L	18,811,000	964.74R	163.317	0.2164		3	(0.001)
Narvi	XXXI	19,007,000	1003.86R	145.824	0.4308		3.5	(0.003)
Bergelmir	XXXVIII	19,336,000	1005.74R	158.574	0.1428		3	(0.001)
S/2004 S17		19,447,000	1014.7R	168.237	0.1793		2	(0.0004)
Suttungr	XXIII	19,459,000	1016.67R	175.815	0.114		3.5	(0.002)
Hati	XLIII	19,846,000	1038.61R	165.83	0.3713		3	(0.001)
S/2004 S12		19,878,000	1046.19R	165.282	0.326		2.5	(0.0009)
Bestla	XXXIX	20,192,000	1088.72R	145.162	0.5176		3.5	(0.002)
Thrymr	XXX	20,314,000	1094.11R	175.802	0.4664		3.5	(0.002)
Farbauti	XL	20,377,000	1085.55R	155.393	0.2396		2.5	(0.0009)
Aegir	XXXVI	20,751,000	1117.52R	166.7	0.252		3	(0.001)
S/2004 S7		20,999,000	1140.24R	166.185	0.5299		3	(0.001)
Kari	XLV	22,089,000	1230.97R	156.271	0.477		3.5	(0.002)
S/2006 S3		22,096,000	1227.21R	158.288	0.3979		3	(0.001)
Fenrir	XLI	22,454,000	1260.35R	164.955	0.1363		2	(0.0004)
Surtur	XLVIII	22,704,000	1297.36R	177.545	0.4507		3	(0.001)
Ymir	XIX	23,040,000	1315.14R	173.125	0.3349		9	(0.049)
Loge	XLVI	23,058,000	1311.36R	167.872	0.1856		3	(0.001)
Fornjot	XLII	25,146,000	1494.2R	170.434	0.2066		3	(0.001)