Titan might be older than Saturn

[Panich52]

DiscoverNews

WATCH VIDEO:
Can a Moon Be Older Than Its Planet? Saturn's moon Titan might be older than Saturn itself.

http://mail.discovery.com/T/v10000014b83f5ce0a890871604babc840/3fd662acc4d0457b0000021ef3a0bcd0

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[marym625]

1. Very cool

Isn't Titan the moon they have said is actually a planet? Sorry for my ignorance here. I only read a little here and there, from time to time about this stuff.

[brush]

2. Me too

Wonder how Saturn captured it if it's older — the planet's massively strong gravitational pull I suppose.

[marym625]

4. makes sense

Glad I wasn't remembering incorrectly

[Fumesucker]

3. Titan is the only moon with a significant atmosphere

It has a thick enough atmosphere that things like aerobraking and parachutes work about as well as on Earth, at the surface the pressure is 1.5 bars which is 1.5 times Earth's atmospheric pressure.

[marym625]

5. That seems like a great deal of pressure, no?

[Fumesucker]

6. Yes, Titan has a very dense and thick atmosphere..

Since the surface gravity is lower the atmosphere is also deeper than that on the Earth, high gravity squeezes an atmosphere flat, low gravity lets it float further away from the surface for a given amount of gas.

Venus has much higher surface pressure than the Earth, Mars much less, Pluto is anyone's guess, Mercury is basically zero and the rest are gas giants with pressures far more than the bottom of our ocean trenches..

[marym625]

7. Thank you

I really appreciate the information.

Happy Valentines Day