What would it be like to stand on the surface of Titan?

Titan is the only moon in the Solar System with a thick atmosphere, which completely obscures its surface at visible wavelengths. But unlike Venus, whose dense atmosphere creates crushing pressure at the surface, atmospheric pressure on Titan is only about 1.5 times that of Earth at sea level. This would make the atmosphere noticeably thicker, but not dangerous. 

At its extreme distance from the Sun, Titan gets about 1% as much sunlight as Earth, and only about 10% of that 1% gets through the atmosphere to the surface. This still provides more light than you might think. If you were standing on the surface of Titan it would look hundreds of times dimmer than daytime on Earth, but that’s still considerably brighter than a fully moonlit night. 

The thick atmosphere, composed primarily of nitrogen and methane, would obscure your view of the Sun and, sadly, Saturn. The air would likely look hazy, with limited visibility. And because of the composition of Titan’s atmosphere, it would also add an orange tint to whatever view you might take in. 

Ice mountains and cryovolcanoes

Titan’s surface is largely made of solid water ice, which, at these temperatures and pressures, would be as hard as granite. Walking on the surface of Titan you might see towering mountains of ice.

Titan may also be home to cryovolcanoes, giant volcanic features that spew out volatiles such as water, ammonia, and methane. A visitor to Titan might get to see water behaving much like lava does on Earth as it flows out of a volcano and oozes down its side, cooling and solidifying as it goes. 

Taking a seaside stroll 

Titan’s most unique feature is that it is the only world other than Earth that is known to have large, stable bodies of liquid on its surface. At such a great distance from the Sun, Titan is far too cold to sustain surface liquid water. Instead, its lakes, rivers, and seas are filled with the hydrocarbons ethane and methane in their liquid forms.