PIA20016 (IMAGE)

Southwest Research Institute

PIA20016

Caption

SwRI scientists have determined that at the rate Titan’s orbit is changing, it should have acquired a circular orbit within about 350 million years. The fact that Titan currently has a noncircular or eccentric orbit implies that something occurred within the past 350 million years that perturbed its orbit.

Credit

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/University of Idaho

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