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A Journey to the End of Time

The Solar System in 3D, in real time

A simulation of the Solar System driven by real ephemerides. The Sun, the planets, Pluto and the major moons, space probes, the International Space Station, nearby stars and the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way are where they really are at the chosen moment. You can run time from 1700 to 2100, fly from one object to another and look at the sky from anywhere on Earth.

Titan

Moon of Saturn

Facts

Mean diameter
5150 km
Mean distance from the planet
1,221,900 km
Orbital period
15.9 days
Discovery
Christiaan Huygens, 25 March 1655
Atmosphere
about 95% nitrogen, 5% methane
Surface pressure
about 60% more than Earth's
Temperature
−179 °C

Titan is Saturn's largest moon and the second largest in the Solar System, bigger than Mercury. It is the only moon with a dense atmosphere and the only place besides Earth with liquids on its surface. Its name was chosen by John Herschel, son of the astronomer William Herschel.

It has clouds, rain, rivers, lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbons such as methane and ethane; there, water ice plays the part of rock. Beneath the surface there is thought to be an ocean of water: radio signals measured by the Huygens probe during its descent, in 2005, point to it.

NASA plans to launch Dragonfly in 2028, a rotorcraft that will make several landings there over three years.

Sources