arthur c. clarke所著的''地球帝国''小说中,土卫六成了拥有250000人口的人类殖民地并且在太阳系经济中扮演主要角色;土卫六大气中的氢称为了行星间旅行的动力来源.
stephen baxter所著的''土卫六''小说中,描写了一项nasa対灾难性登陆土卫六的任务幸存者的拯救.
kurt vonnegut的小说''土卫六的警报''有対土卫六惊险旅行的描写.
bbc的电视秀''红矮人''中,主人公李斯特非法的从土卫六带回一只猫,经过几百万年的硬辐射,这种比起祖先漂亮但不是很聪明的物种被称为''felis sapiens''.
电视剧《恒星》中土卫六变成主人公dante的老家,那里是一个大型的殖民地.
在公元2000漫画系列judge dredd,泰坦星是一个流放犯人的殖民地,但作者在文中犯了一个致命的错误,它被描写成围绕木星轨道旋转.这稍后被归因于一个远距传物科学实验.
在marvel comics宇宙,泰坦星是eternals的殖民之家,他们是一个似神的种族.
在电影gattaca(1997年)中,泰坦星是电影高潮时刻太空任务的目的地.
在日本漫画cowboy bebop(1998年)中,泰坦星曾经是一个战争基地.上面的殖民情况并不清楚.
在一款apple ii是游戏''titan empire''中,泰坦星上的人类试图统治整个太阳系.
在trevor mark所著的小说''shattered faith''中,泰坦星是被古代偏见所愤恨的巨大地外文明的中心,他们来到地球是为了复仇.
美国科幻小说作家alan e. nourse1954年12月用英语发表的的小说,''trouble on titan'',在1971年被以''revolte sur titan''为标题翻译为法文.
桌面科幻游戏战争之锤40000中grey knightsspace marine这一章中继续保留着他们在土卫六上是堡垒.
在c64电脑游戏project firestart故事被设定发生在一个科学探测空间船上,这艘船漂浮在土星系的土卫六附近.
''flight on titan''是一个由stanley g. weinbaum所著的短篇故事
scientists find seas on saturn's moon
(ap)
updated: 2007-03-14 09:06
los angeles - scientists for the first time have discovered what appear to be sea-size bodies of liquid on the surface of saturn's largest moon, including one about as big as the caspian sea on earth.
the discovery by the international cassini spacecraft was welcomed by researchers, who have long theorized that titan possessed hydrocarbon seas because of methane and other organic compounds in its thick, largely nitrogen atmosphere. until now, cassini had only spotted clusters of small lakes on the planet-size moon.
"they're very obvious. there's nothing subtle about them," said cassini scientist jonathan lunine of the university of arizona, tucson.
researchers using visual and radar imaging uncovered evidence of at least two seas on titan's hazy north pole.
cassini's camera last month imaged a large, irregular feature stretching 680 miles long with a surface area similar to the landlocked caspian sea. its radar instrument swept over the feature's northern tip and determined it likely contains liquid methane or ethane because of its smooth appearance. however, scientists don't know whether the entire area is filled with liquid.
the spacecraft also discerned another body one-fifth the size of titan's "caspian sea." with a surface area of about 46,000 square miles, it is larger than lakes superior and ontario combined, scientists said.
while there's no scientific definition of what constitutes a lake or sea on titan, the newly found features are significantly larger than previously discovered bodies of liquid on the frigid moon and should be considered seas, lunine said.
results were presented tuesday at the annual lunar and planetary science conference in texas.
titan is one of the few objects in the outer solar system that possesses a significant atmosphere and scientists have long puzzled over its source. methane is a flammable gas on earth but liquid on titan because of the moon's intense atmospheric pressure and cold.
judging by their sizes and depths, lunine said the newly discovered seas likely aren't responsible for replenishing the long-term methane found in the moon's atmosphere. instead, lunine said that source likely comes from underground methane reservoirs that vent to the surface.
the discovery raises questions about why hydrocarbon pools are concentrated at titan's poles, said carolyn porco, a cassini imaging scientist from the space science institute in boulder, colo. it also gives researchers confidence that a feature the size of lake ontario spied on the moon's south pole two years ago may also be liquid-filled, she said.
in 2005, cassini launched a probe that parachuted to the surface of titan where it found evidence of an active world with liquid methane rain and a landscape of ridges, peaks and features formed by erosion.
cassini, on a mission to study the ringed planet and its many moons, is a project of nasa, the european space agency and the italian space agency. the spacecraft is managed by nasa's jet propulsion laboratory in pasadena.