Saturn’s largest moon Titan is a world enshrouded in hazy mystery.
It’s said to be Earth’s ‘toxic twin,’ with systems of liquid methane that give way to rivers and seas – and, data from the Cassini mission suggests its atmosphere could even be home to molecules that underlie the building blocks of life.
In a stunning throwback image, NASA has revealed another look at Titan, showing the incredible layers of the moon’s hazy atmosphere.
The breathtaking image was captured in visible light by the Cassini spacecraft back in March 2005, using its wide-angle camera.
At the time, Cassini was roughly 20, 556 miles (33,083 kilometers) from Titan.
Scientists long suspected the presence of Titan’s atmosphere.
And, in the decades since Voyager made its first detailed observations, insight on the incredible world has only continued to grow.
The image released today by NASA reveals just how striking the smoggy moon’s haze truly is, appearing like brushstrokes high above the moon.
‘In this view, individual layers of haze can be distinguished in the upper atmosphere of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon,’ NASA explains.
‘Titan’s atmosphere features a rich and complex chemistry originating from methane and nitrogen and evolving into complex molecules, eventually forming the smog that surrounds the moon.’
In a study released this past summer, scientists investigating Titan’s atmosphere revealed they’d discovered ‘large quantities’ of a chemical that could be an ‘important step on the pathway of life.’
On Earth, the chemical known as vinyl cyanide is used in the process of creating plastics – but, in the harsh environment of Titan, it could form flexible membrane-like structures similar to those surrounding animal and plant cells.
The researchers say they have ‘definitively detected’ the material, and they suspect a large amount of it may even reach the surface.
A separate study revealed the presence of molecules thought to be building-blocks of the complex organic compounds that make life possible.
The surprise find from the NASA/ESA Cassini mission means the massive moon is now a key target in the search for primitive alien lifeforms – and, it could help to explain the reactions that allowed first life to emerge on Earth.
These molecules are thought to be a ‘vital stepping-stone’ on the way to more complex molecules, and scientists say their presence at Titan suggests the process previously only known to exist in the interstellar medium may actually be universal.
The Cassini mission came to a dramatic conclusion in September 2017, when it plunged directly into Saturn’s atmosphere.
After 20 years in space, including a seven-year mission extension, Cassini’s dramatic finale was no surprise.
The team carefully planned every aspect of its termination, to expend every last bit of its propellant and crash the spacecraft into Saturn itself – where it would burn up in the atmosphere, and ensure it didn’t accidentally contaminate the ‘pristine’ moons Enceladus and Titan, which have shown potential to support microbial life.
Now, scientists are poring through the data to learn more than ever about the ringed planet and its satellites.
