Cassini: Mission to Saturn special report. Catch the latest astounding discoveries in Cassini's $3 billion, 4-year tour of the Ringed Planet, plus our Expert Guide including a new Instant Expert, FAQ and more…
TITAN is too good to be a moon. If it were set free to orbit the sun instead of Saturn, it would be considered one of the most remarkable planets in the solar system, far more engaging than that dreary dustball Mars.
And yet 18 months ago we knew almost nothing about Saturn's largest satellite - the second biggest in our system after Jupiter's Ganymede. We knew it was the only moon to have clouds and a thick atmosphere; in fact, Titan's surface is almost entirely hidden by hydrocarbon smog. Although Earth-based telescopes had revealed some rough outlines of light and dark areas, nobody knew what the pattern actually represented. Essentially, Titan ...
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