Earth and Titan Shadow Twins?

You say water, I say methane. The planet Titan is so similar to Earth that scientists are calling it our planet’s “shadow twin.” Geological traits such as volcanism, tectonics, erosion, wind activity forming dunes, and bodies of water parallel Earth’s make-up. The main difference is that Titan is cold enough to make the majority of its liquid solid, with methane being the water’s main ingredient. The surface is made up of methane bodies of liquid, which collects when it rains. “There’s about 40% relative humidity of methane,” says Sushil Atreya from the University of Michigan, which also makes it a clear parallel to Earth.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has named some of Titan’s lakes after similar bodies of water in Australia, Canada and Ethiopia, such as Lake Ontario. Its river valleys are also similar, possibly even spouting vegetation. The three layers making up its troposphere, ionosphere and stratosphere all compliment Earth’s model. There are significant differences, however. Titan holds possibly 1,000 times more liquid hydrocarbons in its lakes than in all oil wells combined on Earth. It also has the possibility of a hundred times more coal supply.

Titan has always been a bit of mystery to planetary researchers, but now its details are emerging after the Cassini-Huygens mission, dually funded by Europe and the US. The mission landed a craft on the illusive planet, allowing access to pictures and data of its neighboring planet Saturn, and its 60 moons. There are many reasons to further explore the planet. "This combination of liquid water in the interior plus complex organic molecules composes two big ingredients for life - certainly life as we know it,” says researcher Ralph Lorenz. An ocean of water could be lying below Titan’s surface.

Scientists hope to further invest in Titan’s possibilities; possibly deploying balloons and other landers to sample it’s hydrocarbon levels, and snapping sharper radar images of the twin planet.