Saturn · natural satellite

Titan

Lakes beneath a thick atmosphere

Titan has a dense nitrogen atmosphere, dunes and lakes of liquid hydrocarbons. Huygens reached the surface; Dragonfly is designed to explore it with a rotorcraft.

Mean diameter: 5,149.52 km
Mean orbital distance: 1,221,900 km from centre
Orbital period: 15.945 Earth days

Titan in front of Saturn and its rings, photographed by Cassini — NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute · Image source ↗

Understand this world

Methane weather and organic chemistryFollow methane through Titan’s atmosphere and surface, and understand why Dragonfly will sample different geological settings. · 3 min

Compared with our Moon

Titan · 5,149.52 km

Moon · 3,474.8 km

One diameter scale. Circle shapes compare volume-equivalent diameters; irregular moons are not spheres.

Orbit & discovery

Surface gravity: 1.354 m/s²
Discovery: 1655
Discoverer / team: C. Huygens
Provisional designation: —
JPL satellite ID: 606
Orbital eccentricity: 0.029
Inclination: 0.3 degrees

Inclination reference: Laplace. Mean-element epoch: 2000-01-01.5 TDB · SAT441.

Diameters use volume-equivalent mean radii, including for irregular bodies. Mean orbital elements describe an orbit; they are not live positions. Missing physical measurements remain unavailable.

Physical measurements & uncertainties

Mean radius · km: 2574.76 ±0.02 [1]
GM · km³/s²: 8978.13710 ±0.00025 [SAT441]
Density · g/cm³: 1.8814 ±0.0001 [*]

Missions in the Saturn system · 5 records

5 launches · 0 linked events

These records cover the planetary system. A system mission did not necessarily visit this moon. Dedicated targets are marked separately; programme events include the journey and briefings. Launch outcomes do not establish arrival, landing success or present spacecraft operation.

Dedicated targets only

DEDICATED TARGET · UPCOMING