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In Greek mythology the Titans were the divine beings who preceded the Olympian gods. In Hesiod's Theogony ("The Birth of the Gods") we are told that Earth and Sky gave birth to the Titans, among whom were Cronus? (or Saturn) and Rhea, the mother and father of the Olympians. Other Titans include Oceanus?, Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Tethys.


Titan is the planet Saturn's largest moon. It is larger than either of the planets Mercury or Pluto and is the second-largest moon in the solar system after Ganymede. Titan was discovered in 1655 by the Dutch astronomer [Christian Huygens]?, making it one of the first non-terrestrial moons to be discovered. It is the only known moon with a fully developed atmosphere that consists of more than just trace gases; in fact, Titan's atmosphere is denser than Earth's. Its opaque cloud cover has obscured Titan's surface features from all probes sent so far, but it is thought that Titan may posses bodies of liquid methane. The atmosphere is 94% nitrogen, with significant traces of various hydrocarbons making up much of the remainder (including methane, ethane?, diacetylene?, methylacetylene?, cyanoacetylene?, acetylene, propane, and also carbon dioxide, cyanogen?, [hydrogen cyanide]?, and helium).


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Edited November 21, 2001 5:44 am by MichaelTinkler (diff)
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