Titan is the largest moon of Saturn, the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere, and the only object other than Earth for which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found. Discovered on 25 March 1655 by the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, Titan is the sixth ellipsoidal moon from Saturn. Frequently described as a planet-like moon, it is the second-largest natural satellite in the Solar System, after Jupiter's moon Ganymede, and it is larger by volume than the smallest planet, Mercury. Titan itself is primarily composed of water ice and rocky material. Its dense, opaque atmosphere meant that little was known of the surface features or conditions until the Cassini–Huygens mission in 2004. Although mountains and several possible cryovolcanoes have been discovered, its surface is relatively smooth and few impact craters have been discovered. Owing to the existence of stable bodies of surface liquids and its thick nitrogen-based atmosphere, Titan has been cited as a possible host for microbial extraterrestrial life or, at least, as a prebiotic environment rich in complex organic chemistry.
Read the rest of this article: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_%28moon%29> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 624: History of Islam: Led by Muhammad, the Muslims of Medina defeated the Quraysh of Mecca in Badr, present-day Saudi Arabia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Badr> 1845: German composer Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, one of the most popular and most frequently performed violin concertos of all time, was first played in Leipzig. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_Concerto_%28Mendelssohn%29> 1943: The Holocaust: Nazi troops began liquidating the Jewish Ghetto in Kraków, Poland, sending about 8,000 Jews deemed able to work to the Plaszow labor camp , with the rest either killed or sent to Auschwitz. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w_Ghetto> 1964: American Kitty Genovese was murdered, reportedly in view of neighbors who did nothing to help her, prompting research into the bystander effect. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese> 1996: In the deadliest attack on children in the history of the United Kingdom, a spree killer murdered sixteen children and a teacher at a primary school in Dunblane, Scotland. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_school_massacre> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: hamiform (adj): Curved at the extremity, shaped like a hook <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hamiform> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: I believe the root of all happiness on this earth to lie in the realization of a spiritual life with a consciousness of something wider than materialism; in the capacity to live in a world that makes you unselfish because you are not overanxious about your own comic fallibilities; that gives you tranquility without complacency because you believe in something so much larger than yourself. --Hugh Walpole <http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hugh_Walpole> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
