Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry will help to characterize the atmosphere and surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Ever since Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens discovered Titan, Saturn's largest moon, in 1655, astronomers have sought to understand the mysterious nature of this world that is just smaller than the size of Mars but larger than the planet Mercury. Easily visible with a small, backyard, 3-in. telescope as a mere starlike point of light, Titan would not be viewed at close range until NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft flew past the Saturnian system in 1980. From a distance of 2.3 million km, Voyager's cameras revealed a hazy orange world cloaked in a cold (94 K), thick atmosphere composed of nitrogen and methane that is 1.5 times the density of Earth's, and which prevented any details on the surface from being seen.
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