What is Titan ?? Titan is the largest moon on planet Saturn and the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere. It is the only object other than Earth on which the traces of surface liquid have been found. It has a diameter around 50% larger than that of the Earth's moon. Titan is the second largest moon in the solar system after planet Jupiter's moon Ganymede. Its atmosphere is largely composed of nitrogen, minor components leads to the formation of ethane and methane clouds and nitrogen-rich organic smog.
"Life on Titan" is at present an open question and a topic for scientific discussion. Titan is far colder than Earth because its distance from the sun is more and its surface seems to lack liquid water as the water ice does not melt. The surface temperature is about 94K (-179oC or -290oF). It has also been suggested that life could exist in the liquid methane and ethane that form rivers and lakes on Titan's surface just as the life exists on Earth with water. The creatures which would live on Titan would inhale H2 in place of O2, react it with acetylene instead of glucose and exhale methane instead of carbon dioxide. Moreover, its surface is thick and chemically active and is known to be rich in organic compounds.
One of the scientists has proposed that the hypothetical organisms on Titan use hydrogen and acetylene as the energy sources. In 2007 a committee chaired by John A. Baross, an astrobiologist considered that if life is an intrinsic property of chemical reactivity then life should exist on Titan. Indeed, for life not to exist on Titan, we would have to argue with the fact that life is not an intrinsic property of the reactivity of carbon containing molecules under conditions where they are stable.
Conditions on Titan could become far more habitable in the future. Six billion years from now, as the sun becomes a red giant the surface temperature could rise enough for stable oceans of water/ammonia mixture to exist on the surface.
"Life on Titan" is at present an open question and a topic for scientific discussion. Titan is far colder than Earth because its distance from the sun is more and its surface seems to lack liquid water as the water ice does not melt. The surface temperature is about 94K (-179oC or -290oF). It has also been suggested that life could exist in the liquid methane and ethane that form rivers and lakes on Titan's surface just as the life exists on Earth with water. The creatures which would live on Titan would inhale H2 in place of O2, react it with acetylene instead of glucose and exhale methane instead of carbon dioxide. Moreover, its surface is thick and chemically active and is known to be rich in organic compounds.
One of the scientists has proposed that the hypothetical organisms on Titan use hydrogen and acetylene as the energy sources. In 2007 a committee chaired by John A. Baross, an astrobiologist considered that if life is an intrinsic property of chemical reactivity then life should exist on Titan. Indeed, for life not to exist on Titan, we would have to argue with the fact that life is not an intrinsic property of the reactivity of carbon containing molecules under conditions where they are stable.
Conditions on Titan could become far more habitable in the future. Six billion years from now, as the sun becomes a red giant the surface temperature could rise enough for stable oceans of water/ammonia mixture to exist on the surface.
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