What are the Moons of Saturn?

Saturn has many satellites, and more than 60 satellites have been discovered so far. Among the named satellites, 11 are small satellites with a diameter of less than 300 kilometers, 6 are medium-sized satellites with a diameter of 400-1500 kilometers, and a large satellite Titan with a diameter of 5150 kilometers -Titan. Among Saturn's moons, the innermost six are small moons. They may have been fragments of large ice objects, and they have a close relationship with Saturn.

The largest satellite system in the solar system. Outermost

At least 10 Saturn moons have been identified. According to the distance from Saturn:

Retrograde orbit around Saturn (in the opposite direction of planet rotation)

It is unclear whether it is a true satellite or just a stable fragment of the F ring

some

Titan is the smallest and closest of Saturn's 8 large, regularly shaped moons

Enceladus is Saturn's third largest moon. Before the U.S. planetary probe Voyager 2 flew near this celestial body in 1981, in addition to knowing its orbit,

Titan's main ingredient is pure water ice. It is 1060 kilometers in diameter and orbits Saturn at 294,660 kilometers from Saturn. Enceladus has two notable features: one is a large crack that extends three-quarters of the circumference of the planet and occupies 5% to 10% of the entire surface.

It is speculated that the large crack was caused by the freezing and expansion of the water inside the satellite; the first is a crater with a diameter of 400 kilometers and a huge central peak inside. Titan has a diameter of 1120 kilometers and orbits Saturn in a near-circle orbit with an average distance of 377,400 kilometers. It orbits about 66 hours in one week, which is exactly twice the period of Enceladus' revolution. It is estimated that Enceladus's

The surface brightness of Titan is quite different. The front half of the surface facing the direction of the track is usually brighter than the rear half. But on average, Titan's albedo is very high.

Based on this speculation, its surface is composed of a large amount of ice. The density of the satellite is 1.4 times that of water. It is estimated that it is composed of about 40% of rocks and 60% of ice. Obviously, there has been a lot of ice melting and crustal surface rebuilding activities on this satellite, so compared with other Saturn satellites, there are fewer craters on the surface.

Most craters are on the bright side of the orbit. The darker rear half is cut by many bright lines forming a network structure. Some of them are linear grooves and ridges. These bright streaks were interpreted as possibly due to volatile substances emerging from linear cracks inside Titan and recondensing. Although there are also signs of major collisions near the center of the network structure on the back of Enceladus, it is still unclear why this apparent asymmetry is on the surface of Enceladus.

Titan has a diameter of 1530 kilometers and orbits Saturn in a near-circle orbit with an average distance of 527040 kilometers. Its density is 1.3 times that of water, so it is generally considered to be composed mainly of ice. Infrared spectroscopy also shows that its surface is mainly composed of frost. The albedo on Titan's surface is high, but it varies greatly in different regions. Like most of Saturn's moons, Titan's rotation and revolution are synchronous, so it always faces Saturn in the same direction. Like Enceladus, the first half of Enceladus's orbital direction is bright and full of craters, while the second half is darker, and there are only a few bright lines and a few craters and some signs of surface reconstruction. Although Titan has more ice than stones on the surface, the crater-like side is very similar

The orbit is 1,221,830 kilometers from Saturn

Satellite diameter 5150 km

Satellite mass 1.35e23 kg

Titan was discovered by Huygens in 1655. During this time, Titan was considered the largest satellite in the solar system and named Titan (in Greek mythology, Titan is a giant family).

One of Voyager 1's missions was the study of Titan. Voyager 1 flew at an altitude of 4,000 kilometers from its surface. Although its camera could not penetrate Titan's atmosphere, it still took some precious photos for people. People spent a few minutes with it more than the previous 300 Learn more in the year.

Titan is composed of nearly half of ice and half of rock material. It may be divided into many layers, and it has a rock core with a diameter of 3,400 kilometers, surrounded by many layers of ice crystals. Its interior may still be hot. Its density is so great that its own gravitational force compresses it toward the center.

Titan's atmosphere is very noteworthy. At the surface, its pressure is greater than 150 kPa (early atmospheric pressure 101 kPa; 50% higher than the earth). It is mainly composed of molecular nitrogen (just like the earth's), with only 6% argon and some percentage of methane. Interestingly, there are a dozen other traces of other organic compounds (such as

Titan is a smaller moon of Saturn. It orbits Saturn every 23.3 days and is 1481,000 kilometers away from Saturn. It is located between Titan and Titan. It is an irregular-shaped object with a size of 410 km × 260 km × 22 km. It has a high albedo (30%), which means that its surface is covered by frost.

Titan is a peripheral satellite in the Saturn satellite system, which is anomalous with its appearance. Discovered by French astronomer Cassini in 1671. Titan has circled Saturn for 79.33 Earth days, and its distance from Saturn is 3561,000 kilometers. The radius is about 730 kilometers and the overall density is 1.16. A solid object with such a small density can only consist mainly of ice. It has been observed that the rotation period of Titan is equal to its revolution period, which is the same as that of the moon.

Titan's solid surface is also affected by the gravitational pull of other large planets at close range. The result is that one side of Titan is always forward in its orbital motion, while the other side always follows. The forward hemisphere reflects only a small portion of the sunlight shining on it and appears particularly dark, while the following hemisphere is a good reflector that is 10 times brighter than the forward hemisphere. Of all the celestial bodies in the solar system, it is the one with the largest change in brightness.

The diameter of Titan is about 220 kilometers, and the average distance from Saturn is about 12952000 kilometers. It is the farthest Saturn moon known from Saturn.

Titan is an irregularly shaped small satellite. It and

In addition to Titan to Titan, Saturn has thirty-four named mini-satellites and eight unnamed mini-satellites. They are:

American researchers have discovered that a thin atmosphere exists on Saturn's second largest satellite, Titan, where oxygen accounts for about 70% and carbon dioxide accounts for 30%. This is the first time that researchers have discovered an atmosphere rich in oxygen on Saturn's moons.

70% oxygen but low concentration

NASA's "Cassini" orbiting probe discovered that Titan was present in the atmosphere during a probe over Titan's North Pole. After analysis by the "Cassini" mass spectrometer, it was confirmed that it contained oxygen and carbon dioxide. The first author of the study, Ben Theores, a researcher at the Southwest Research Institute, said that previous studies found that Jupiter's moons Europa and Europa contain gaseous oxygen, and the same fact has now been confirmed on Titan. "The widespread presence of (atmospheric oxygen) is exciting," Teolis said. The researchers confirmed that oxygen accounts for about 70% of Titan's atmospheric content and carbon dioxide accounts for 30%. However, Tiolis said that the oxygen concentration on Titan is much lower than that of the earth, which is only one fifth of the earth's concentration.

The atmosphere is quite thin

The atmosphere on Titan is quite thin. The Cassini overflight probe has not found definitive evidence for the existence of the atmosphere. In the 1990s, the detection by the US Hubble Space Telescope confirmed the existence of a thin atmosphere containing oxygen in Europa and Europa, leading researchers to turn to satellites of other planets in the solar system, including Titan. Teolis said that Titan has a large amount of ice, with a diameter of 1529 kilometers. Researchers believe it has enough gravity to "grab" the atmosphere. However, the research progress was not smooth. Cassini flew over Titan twice in 2005 and 2007, without making breakthrough progress. "Cassini" reduced the flight height to 97 kilometers above Titan. This height made Cassini enter Titan's atmosphere. The samples collected by "Cassini" show that the Titan atmosphere is only 1% of the atmospheric density of Europa and Europa. "It's too thin to detect remotely," Teolis said.

The mystery of carbon dioxide

Researchers believe that oxygen comes from Titan's ice. By the action of charged particles in the magnetic layer of the star, ice decomposes to form oxygen. However, researchers cannot determine the source of the carbon dioxide. One possibility is that Titan may, like other stars in the solar system, have carbon-rich organic molecules on or near the surface. These molecules are also affected by charged particles, which decomposes carbon and combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide. Other possibilities include: carbon dioxide was the "primitive" gas released when Titan was formed 4.5 billion years ago; or Titan was formed during earlier geological activities that have ceased. "Our formation process is unclear at this time, and this is undoubtedly the direction for our future research," said Teolis. "Cassini" flew over Titan's South Pole at a height of 75 kilometers from the surface of the star. ^[2]