The Cassini mission to Saturn continues to yield fundamental insights into that planet, its ring system, and its moons. The latest comes from the flybys of Saturn's huge, intriguing moon, Titan.
By carefully noting the gravitational effects Titan has on the probe as it whizzes past, researchers have deduced Titan's interior is not layered like most bodies, with massive rock dominating the core and lighter ices above that. Rather, Titan is simply a mix of rock and ice all the way through.
That means Titan never really heated up very much during its formation; heat would have allowed the rock to sink to the core. The lack of heat means Titan formed slowly, coalescing gradually in what was no doubt a wild environment of small bodies orbiting Saturn early in the history of the Solar System.
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