Search | New Scientist

Titan and Saturn as captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft

Quantum effects could be key to the chemistry of life on Titan

18 March 2023

Saturn’s moon Titan is too cold for many types of chemical reactions, but quantum tunnelling could present a loophole that would allow reactions that are crucial for life

Clouds on Titan over 36 hours between November 4 and November 6, 2022, as seen by JWST (left) and Keck (right)

JWST has taken pictures of clouds on Saturn’s moon Titan

1 December 2022

The James Webb Space Telescope and the Keck Observatory in Hawaii have watched clouds changing shape in the sky of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, which could help us understand its weird atmosphere

Scott Bolton on his missions to the gas giants of the solar system

19 July 2022

After decades of heading NASA’s exploration of Saturn, Jupiter and their moons, the space physicist describes what we have learned and what future missions must now answer

A giant of a moon appears before a giant of a planet undergoing seasonal changes in this natural color view of Titan and Saturn from NASA Cassini spacecraft.

Saturn’s moon Titan may be doomed to fly away or smash into the planet

22 October 2021

Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, is slowly migrating away from the planet, which is tilting Saturn onto its side and may eventually doom the moon to orbital chaos

Weird ring-shaped molecule on Titan could be a building block to life

30 October 2020

An unexpected molecule spotted in the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan has never been seen on any planet or moon before – it may help form the building blocks of life

Saturn's moon Titan could be hiding underground reservoirs of methane

9 December 2019

Titan’s lakes, seas and atmosphere are full of methane, and a simulation has revealed that it might come from an underground reservoir spanning the whole moon

We have the first full map of the weird surface features of Titan

18 November 2019

Astronomers have used data from the Cassini spacecraft to build a full map of Titan’s geological features for the first time, revealing strange belts of different terrains

The solar system has too many moons – it's time for a cull

23 October 2019

Designating rocks just a few kilometres across as moons is misleading and ridiculous. We need to do a Pluto and cut moons down to size, argues Leah Crane

Strange sand dunes on Titan could be made by cosmic rays hitting ice

16 October 2019

Saturn’s largest moon Titan has strange sand dunes that seem to be full of organic molecules, which may form when radiation from space hits ice on the ground

This artist's concept of a lake at the north pole of Saturn's moon Titan illustrates raised rims and rampartlike features such as those seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft around the moon's Winnipeg Lacus.

Titan’s odd-shaped lakes may have formed from underground explosions

9 September 2019

Saturn’s moon Titan has some lakes that are strangely shaped and appear to have formed from explosions of underground nitrogen hundreds of millions of years ago