Posted on by Mark Thompson

How Can Titan Maintain its Atmosphere?

Interior of Titan

Saturn’s moon Titan is perhaps one of the most fascinating moons in the Solar System. It’s the second largest of all the moons in our planetary neighbourhood and is the only one with a significant atmosphere. It’s composed of 95% nitrogen and 5% methane and is 1.5 times as dense as the Earth’s atmosphere. The methane in the atmosphere of Titan is what puzzles scientists. It should have all be broken up within 30 million years causing the atmosphere to freeze but it hasn’t! There must be an internal process replenishing it, but what is it?

Continue reading “How Can Titan Maintain its Atmosphere?”
Posted on by Laurence Tognetti

Will Enceladus finally answer, ‘Are we alone?’

We recently examined how and why the planet Mars could answer the longstanding question: Are we alone? There is evidence to suggest that it was once a much warmer and wetter world thanks to countless spacecraft, landers, and rovers having explored—and currently exploring—its atmosphere, surface, and interior. Here, we will examine another one of Saturn’s 83 moons, an icy world that spews geysers of water ice from giant fissures near its south pole, which is strong evidence for an interior ocean, and possibly life. Here, we will examine Enceladus.

Continue reading “Will Enceladus finally answer, ‘Are we alone?’”