Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is one of my favorites. Why? Well take a look at the infrared picture above (bottom left) and tell me what it looks like….. Earth! Titan is very much like Earth was way back when it was just a baby, about 4 billion years ago. It's about half the size of Earth and has a dense nitrogen atmosphere. It's the only moon in our solar system that has a thick atmosphere, and the only object to have flowing liquid and lakes on it! Unfortunately these lakes are not water lakes, but methane lakes (too toxic for humans to swim in!) There are also volcanoes which spew out water and methane (cryovolcanism), suggesting that there might be a layer of liquid water underneath Titan's crust! Astronomers think that Titan may be the best place to look for life in our solar system, as it is so similar to Earth. The Huygens Lander discovered in 2005 that the surface of Titan contains carbon compounds, further supporting the idea of possible life! Now we don't expect to find an alien civilization walking around, but we may find bacteria or other organisms who've adapted to the conditions and are living either on the surface or in the methane lakes. NASA and ESA are planning robotic missions to land on and study Titan, but no official announcements on when this will occur have been made. I guess we will just have to wait and see!
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Cassini-Huygens
