The atmosphere of Titan is made mostly of nitrogen (80-90%), just like the Earth's atmosphere! Titan is the only other place in the solar system with an atmosphere made out of the same thing as the Earth's. Titan's atmosphere is very dense, and the air pressure at the surface is even higher than Earth's atmospheric pressure. Titan also has some methane in its air. Sunlight breaks down the methane and forms other chemicals, too. Those chemicals create layers of haze or smog in Titan's atmosphere. We can't see through those smog layers, so the new pictures from the Huygens probe are our first good look at Titan's surface. Titan is very cold (-178º C or -288º F). Methane, which is a gas on Earth, turns to liquid in many places on Titan. The Cassini spacecraft has spotted clouds of methane and ethane in Titan's atmosphere. The clouds are near Titan's poles. There is probably even methane and/or ethane rain and snow on Titan. This picture shows what the different parts of Titan's atmosphere might be like. |
Titan - the Largest Moon of Saturn
Picture of Clouds Over Titan's North Pole
Picture of Clouds Over Titan's South Pole

