A titan among moons
Saturn's moon Titan shows off its atmosphere in this image captured by Cassini, as the spacecraft passed by at a distance of 900,000 miles (1.4 million km). Titan is unique among moons in our solar system, being the only moon with a thick atmosphere, which is comprised mainly of nitrogen, small amounts of methane, and trace amounts of carbon-rich compounds which rain down on Titan's surface.
Titan is one of the most promising places in our solar system to look for life, with what is suspected to be a large ocean of liquid water hidden beneath its surface. Life on Titan would be very different than on Earth, though, with rivers and lakes of liquid methane strewn across its surface, an atmospheric pressure 60 times that of Earth, and a surface temperature of -290 degrees Fahrenheit or -179 degrees Celsius.
Image description: The Cassini spacecraft captures the night side of Saturn's largest moon and sees sunlight scattering through Titan's atmosphere, forming purple and gray rings. Titan appears primarily black, with a sliver of yellow highlighted against its atmosphere and the blackness of space.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
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