The other giant planets in the solar system, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune, keep their rings sharp with the help of their inner moons as well. Ring shepherds are not only found in the system of Saturn. Though they are not as close to the rings as the others, the co-orbital moons Janus and Epimetheus also function as herder moons. The other two shepherds, Prometheus and Pandora, maintain the F ring. Pan and Daphnis are within the Encke gap and the Keeler Gap respectively while Atlas lies close to the edge of the A ring. Saturn has three moons shepherding the A ring. These moons are also called herder moons and watcher moons. In a way, shepherd moons “herd” the ring materials of Saturn. That sort of “kick” sculpts the edge of Saturn’s rings or keeps the ring gaps open. Those materials are deflected by the gravitational influence of the moons, keeping them in place. A shepherd moon comes to the rescue when that happens.Īs shepherd satellites orbit their parent planet, they come across loose ring materials along the way. Because of the movement, particles can go off track and diverge from the ring. Saturn’s rings move and orbit around it at different speeds.
Remember that planetary rings are made up of dust, ice, and all kinds of debris suspended in space. It remains unknown whether or not life can even exist on Titan, yet the possibility that it could mean that further research into this moon is needed.Ring shepherd moons help keep the shape of a planet’s ring. Finding alien life on Titan would be a very significant discovery because not only would it confirm the existence of alien life, it would also prove that not all forms of life require Earth-like conditions. It does suggest that there is a possibility for life to exist on Titan. However, these conclusions are entirely theoretical and have not been completely proven. Interestingly, scientists have shown that it is possible for a cell membrane to form using nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen, three chemicals that are abundant in Titan’s methane seas. Titan lacks these three chemicals, and so a cell membrane on Titan would need to be composed of other chemicals. Every cell on Earth contains a permeable membrane made of water, oxygen, and phosphorus. In order to determine if life requires liquid water, scientists would need to show that cell membranes can form and exist without liquid water. The presence of liquid on Titan’s surface raises an interesting question: could life exist on Titan?Īlternative Cell Membranes Radar-produced Image of a Methane Sea on Titan's Surface, NASA Titan is the only other world in the solar system where it rains. On Titan, the seas are filled with liquid hydrocarbons. Instead, the frigid temperatures on Titan allow methane and ethane to condense into liquid form. However, unlike on Earth, these liquid bodies do not contain water. Radar views of the surface, along with a successful probe that landed on the surface in 2005, have revealed a surface remarkably similar to the Earth’s, with evidence confirming that Titan is home to lakes, seas, and rivers. Titan’s atmosphere is only one aspect that makes this moon so interesting. Surface temperatures on Titan average at minus 292 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 180 degrees Celsius), so the hydrocarbons in Titan’s atmosphere become so dense that they stick to Titan, maintaining its atmosphere for billions of years. Titan’s atmosphere is primarily composed of methane and ethane, which happen to be pretty dense hydrocarbons. Titan, however, has an atmosphere thicker than Earth’s, despite being only a fraction of the mass. Moons have low gravity due to their small mass, so they generally cannot hold onto much of an atmosphere. Dense atmospheres are rare for moons, and so the atmosphere of Titan is rather strange. Unlike every other moon in the solar system, Titan is blanketed in a dense atmosphere that is even denser than Earth’s. Titan is among the most unique and intriguing moons in the solar system. Having a diameter of 1,600 miles (2,575 kilometers), Titan is even larger than the planet Mercury. Titan is the largest moon of Saturn and the second-largest moon in the solar system.
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