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Moons of our Solar System
Moons of our Solar System

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2 Titan – a new area of exploration

Titan is the only moon on which we have landed a probe, apart from our own Moon, and it has a dense atmosphere which makes it hard to see the surface from orbit.

This is an image of Titan seen in natural colour, by Cassini.
Figure 6 Titan seen in natural colour, by Cassini.

As you have seen, the Voyager mission revealed that Titan is shrouded in a dense, hazy atmosphere, obscuring its surface. The Cassini–Huygens mission had the cameras on board to reveal the surface features, and instruments to test the composition and properties of the atmosphere and surface. Here, you will explore what Cassini–Huygens discovered and what the similarities and differences are between Titan, the Earth and Neptune’s largest moon, Triton.