Moon Titan appears to be rushing away from Saturn

New research reveals that the moon is moving 100 times faster from Saturn than previously thought.

Moons exert a certain influence on planets. Just look at our own moon, which is responsible for the tides. In addition, our moon gradually moves further away from Earth. Titan exerts a similar influence on Saturn. Decades of measurements have revealed that Titan is also slowly moving away from Saturn. But a new study suggests that this happens much faster than expected.

Titan
“Most studies have predicted that moons such as Titan or Jupiter’s moon Callisto are formed at a distance comparable to what we see today,” said study leader Jim Fuller. However, his new study claims something completely different. Titan would have seen the light of day much closer to Saturn and have moved to its present distance over the past 4.5 billion years. Currently, Titan is located 1.2 million kilometers from the gas giant.

More about Titan
Titan is larger than the planet Mercury and is the second largest moon in our solar system. Titan orbits planet Saturn and is approximately 1.4 billion kilometers from the sun; about ten times further than Earth. Because the moon is so far from the sun, the surface temperature is around -179 degrees Celsius.

To properly understand this moving process of Titan, it is best to consider our own moon. The moon actually pulls like a magnet on our earth, creating the tides. The Moon’s pull is best felt on the side of the Earth that the Moon is closest to. This raises the water there (just like on the other side of the earth, by the way). The moon orbits the earth and the high water level follows the movement of the moon. The attraction of the moon to the earth also slows down the rotation of the earth. This causes the Moon to gradually move further away from Earth. This happens at a rate of about 3.8 centimeters per year. However, you don’t have to worry about the moon breaking away from Earth at some point. Earth will not “lose” the moon until both the earth and the moon are swallowed up by the sun in about six billion years.

Movement
Back to Titan. Titan exerts a similar attraction on Saturn. For a long time, however, Saturn’s frictional processes were thought to be weaker than those inside Earth, because Saturn consists largely of gas. Theories predicted that Titan will move away from the gas giant at a steady rate of up to 0.1 centimeters per year. But the new results completely contradict this forecast.

Two methods
In the study, two teams of researchers each used a different method to determine Titan’s orbit over a ten-year period. The first method involves accurate measurements of Titan’s position relative to background stars (also called astrometry). For this, the team analyzed images collected by the Cassini spacecraft. The second research team measured Cassini’s speed because it was influenced by Titan’s appeal. “By using two completely independent data sets and applying two very different analysis methods, we have obtained the most accurate results,” said researcher Valéry Lainey. And the results appear to be completely consistent.