When did Christiaan Huygens discover the first moon of Saturn?
Christiaan Huygens discovered the first moon of Saturn in 1655. He named this satellite Titan after observing it through a telescope of his own design.
Christiaan Huygens discovered the first moon of Saturn in 1655. He named this satellite Titan after observing it through a telescope of his own design.
Saturn hosts 274 confirmed moons, making it the planet with the most known satellites in the Solar System. Most of these bodies are small irregular satellites with distant, inclined orbits.
Scientists detected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Titan's upper atmosphere on the 6th of June 2013. This discovery contributed to understanding the nitrogen-rich envelope unique among all known moons in the Solar System.
Enceladus remains geologically active today because energy driving its cryovolcanism likely comes from a 2:1 mean-motion resonance with Dione. It emits jets of ice from its south-polar region at a rate exceeding 100 kilograms per second.
Reports from the 2nd of July 2014 indicated that the subsurface ocean inside Titan appears as salty as Earth's Dead Sea. This internal ocean exists beneath the crust and may erupt to the surface during cryovolcanic events.