Moon of Saturn
Titan
A hazy giant moon with seasons, rain, and methane seas.
Titan orbits Saturn every 15 days and 22 hours and is tidally locked, always facing the planet the same way. Because it orbits near Saturn's equatorial plane, it shares Saturn's tilt and gets seasons that each last more than seven Earth years. Those seasons shift its methane clouds, rain, and lakes.
How it moves
- Titan orbits Saturn every 15.945 days at about 1,221,870 km.
- It is tidally locked in synchronous rotation with Saturn.
- It orbits close to Saturn's equatorial plane, so it experiences Saturn's 26.73-degree seasonal tilt.
- Each season on Titan lasts more than seven Earth years, following Saturn's 29.4-year orbit.
Facts
- Mean radius
- 2,574.76 km
- Mass
- 1.346e+23 kg
- Surface gravity
- 1.35 m/s²
- Rotation period
- 382.69 hours
- Orbital period
- 15.945 days
- Average orbital distance
- 1,221,870 km
- Eccentricity
- 0.0292
- Discovered
- March 25, 1655, by Christiaan Huygens
Titan is the only place besides Earth known to have rain, rivers, lakes, and seas on its surface.
Sources: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov, ssd.jpl.nasa.gov, ssd.jpl.nasa.gov