Saturn's largest moon Titan may be two moons in one and linked to Saturn's rings

A SETI Institute study suggests Titan formed about 400 million years ago when two large moons collided, a scenario that could also explain the creation of Hyperion, several unusual satellite orbits, and a relatively young ring system.

A new study from researchers at the SETI Institute proposes that Saturn's largest moon, Titan, formed around 400 million years ago when two large moons collided. The team based the idea on analyses of data from NASA's Cassini mission and numerical simulations. They propose that the collision produced debris that became smaller moons such as Hyperion and disturbed the orbits of other satellites. The researchers also link the event to the possible recent formation of Saturn's rings. Key findings: - The study models a collision between two similarly massive progenitor moons, sometimes referred to as "Proto-Titan" and "Proto-Hyperion," as the origin of present-day Titan. - Hyperion may have formed from debris produced by that impact and now occupies a 3:4 orbital resonance with Titan, a relationship the authors describe as relatively young (a few hundred million years). - The collision scenario is offered as a possible explanation for Titan's relatively low number of impact craters, consistent with a younger surface history. - The researchers suggest the impact could have generated additional fragments that later broke up and settled into a ring system roughly 100 million years ago, a timeline that differs from some other studies. - The hypothesis may also help account for the tilted orbits of other Saturnian moons such as Iapetus and Rhea. Summary: If supported, the proposal would revise estimates of Titan's age and tie a single event to several features of the Saturn system, including Hyperion's origin, some unusual satellite tilts, and a possibly young ring system. The planned Dragonfly mission, scheduled for launch in 2028 with arrival in the 2030s, is noted as a future opportunity to gather observations that could test aspects of this hypothesis.