Saturn's moon Titan hides its surface under a thick orange haze. Toggle the haze to reveal the methane and ethane seas Cassini's radar mapped near the poles; toggle the cutaway to see the ice shell and the subsurface ocean beneath.
Published figures: atmosphere ~95% nitrogen / ~5% methane, detectable to about 600 km altitude; surface pressure about 1.45x Earth sea level; surface temperature about -179 C (94 K); polar seas cover only a few percent of the surface (Cassini radar / NASA).
Drag to orbit and scroll or pinch to zoom. Toggle Haze or Cutaway.
Titan Methane Lakes 3D Explorer
This browser explorer shows Saturn's moon Titan as a hazy nitrogen-methane world with polar methane and ethane seas Cassini's radar mapped beneath the haze, plus a cutaway of the ice shell and the subsurface liquid-water ocean.
Titan's atmosphere is about 95% nitrogen and 5% methane, detectable to roughly 600 km altitude - about ten times taller than Earth's. Surface pressure is about 1.45 times Earth's sea-level pressure and surface temperature is about -179 C (94 K). Cassini radar found liquid methane and ethane lakes and seas concentrated near the poles, covering only a few percent of the surface, fed by a complete methane hydrological cycle of evaporation, hydrocarbon clouds, rain, and surface flow.
- Toggle the haze to reveal the radar-mapped polar seas
- Toggle the cutaway to see the ice shell and subsurface ocean
- Read atmosphere, pressure, temperature, and sea-size figures
- Compare with the Enceladus Geysers sibling (plumes, not lakes)
- Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom
- Runs fully in the browser with the vendored three.js engine - no account, no upload
| Figure | Published value |
|---|---|
| Atmosphere composition | ~95% nitrogen, ~5% methane |
| Atmosphere altitude | detectable to about 600 km |
| Surface pressure | ~1.45x Earth sea level (about 60% higher) |
| Surface temperature | about -179 C (94 K) |
| Largest sea | Kraken Mare, roughly 400,000 sq km |
| Ligeia Mare depth | measured up to about 160 m (Cassini radar altimetry) |
| Subsurface ocean | liquid water about 55-80 km beneath the ice shell |
| Huygens landing | 2005-01-14, farthest landing by a human-made craft, 90+ minutes of surface data |
For water-vapor plumes instead of lakes, open the Enceladus Geysers 3D Explorer.
Everything renders on your device with WebGL. The 3D engine loads once (about 0.7 MB) and is cached.
This is an educational approximation - haze thickness, layer sizes, and lake positions are exaggerated and schematic for visibility, not a precise radar map.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Titan?
Saturn's largest moon - the only other body in the solar system with stable liquid on its surface (methane and ethane lakes and seas) and a thick nitrogen-methane atmosphere (NASA Cassini).
How thick is Titan's atmosphere?
About 95% nitrogen and 5% methane, detectable to roughly 600 km altitude - about ten times taller than Earth's - with surface pressure about 1.45 times Earth's sea level.
What did Cassini's radar find?
Liquid methane and ethane lakes and seas concentrated near the poles, covering only a few percent of the surface, including Kraken Mare (largest, roughly 400,000 sq km) and Ligeia Mare (depth measured up to about 160 m).
Is there an ocean under the ice?
Cassini gravity data and Huygens radio signals point to a subsurface liquid-water ocean roughly 55-80 km beneath the ice shell.
What was the Huygens landing?
ESA's Huygens probe landed on Titan on 2005-01-14 - the most distant landing by a human-made craft - and transmitted data for over 90 minutes from the surface.
Is this a physical simulation?
No. It is an educational explorer using published NASA, Cassini, and Huygens figures - haze, layers, and lake positions are schematic teaching cues, not a physics model.