Titan's first global geological map unveiled

The first global geological map of Saturn's largest moon Titan was unveiled by scientists on Monday. The map includes Titan's vast plains and dunes of frozen organic material and lakes of liquid methane, illuminating an exotic world. Scientists believe that there is possibility of life on Titan. It is considered a strong candidate in search for life beyond Earth.

The map was based on radar, infrared  and other data collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which studied Saturn and its moon from 2004 to 2017. Titan with a diameter of 5,150 km is the largest moon of Saturn and the second largest behind Jupiter's Ganymede. It is larger than the planet Mercury.

Titan is the only solar system object other than Earth that boasts of stable liquids on the surface, with lakes and seas full of methane being major features at its polar regions. Hilly and mountainous areas, thought to represent exposed portions of Titan's crust of water ice, represent 14% of the surface.

Scientists believe that the atmosphere of Titan is similar to that of Earth when it was formed because various chemical and geological activities takes place on Titan. Just like satellites of other giant planets Titan is tidally locked with Saturn due to which its rotational period is same as its orbital period.

"Organics are very important for the possibility of life on Titan, which many of us think likely have evolved in the liquid ocean under Titan's icy crust", said planetary geologist Rosaly Lopes of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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