Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Of all the alien worlds in our solar system, one in particular resembles our home planet. Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is the only other place we know of where you could walk along the seashore or stand in the rain. However, Titan’s exotic seas and its oily raindrops are not made of water, but of the natural gases methane and ethane, super-chilled into liquid form. Now, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed a crucial, missing step in how ethane is formed, and its discovery could tell us about the future of Titan’s atmosphere.
Learn more: science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/webbs-titan-forecast-partly-cloudy-with-occasional-methane-showers
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Dan Gallagher: Producer/Editor
Conor Nixon: Lead Scientist/Narrator
Jenny McElligott: Lead Animator
Andrew J Christensen: Lead Visualizer
Nicholas Lombardo: Scientist
Jonathan North: Animator
Wes Buchanan: Animator
Kim Dongjae: Animator
Chris Meaney: Animator
Michael Lentz: Animator/Art Director
Adriana Manrique Gutierrez: Animator
Walt Feimer: Animation Lead
Mark SubbaRao: Data Visualizer
Kel Elkins: Data Visualizer
Ernie Wright: Data Visualizer
Juan Lora: Data Provider
Wade Sisler: Executive Producer
Kathryn Mersmann: Social Media Support
Laura Betz: Public Affairs
Universal Production Music: “Barfuß Durch Die Stadt” by Edgar Möller [GEMA] and Lucia Wilke [GEMA]; “Into the Void” by Gage Boozan [ASCAP]; “Pulse of Progress” by Emma Zarobyan [SOCAN]; “Playing With The Narrative” by Cathleen Flynn [ASCAP] and Micah Barnes [BMI]; “Back From The Brink” by Daniel Gunnar Louis Trachtenberg [PRS]
This video can be freely shared and downloaded at svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14843. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14843. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/.
Of all the alien worlds in our solar system, one in particular resembles our home planet. Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is the only other place we know of where you could walk along the seashore or stand in the rain. However, Titan’s exotic seas and its oily raindrops are not made of water, but of the natural gases methane and ethane, super-chilled into liquid form. Now, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed a crucial, missing step in how ethane is formed, and its discovery could tell us about the future of Titan’s atmosphere.
Learn more: science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/webbs-titan-forecast-partly-cloudy-with-occasional-methane-showers
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Dan Gallagher: Producer/Editor
Conor Nixon: Lead Scientist/Narrator
Jenny McElligott: Lead Animator
Andrew J Christensen: Lead Visualizer
Nicholas Lombardo: Scientist
Jonathan North: Animator
Wes Buchanan: Animator
Kim Dongjae: Animator
Chris Meaney: Animator
Michael Lentz: Animator/Art Director
Adriana Manrique Gutierrez: Animator
Walt Feimer: Animation Lead
Mark SubbaRao: Data Visualizer
Kel Elkins: Data Visualizer
Ernie Wright: Data Visualizer
Juan Lora: Data Provider
Wade Sisler: Executive Producer
Kathryn Mersmann: Social Media Support
Laura Betz: Public Affairs
Universal Production Music: “Barfuß Durch Die Stadt” by Edgar Möller [GEMA] and Lucia Wilke [GEMA]; “Into the Void” by Gage Boozan [ASCAP]; “Pulse of Progress” by Emma Zarobyan [SOCAN]; “Playing With The Narrative” by Cathleen Flynn [ASCAP] and Micah Barnes [BMI]; “Back From The Brink” by Daniel Gunnar Louis Trachtenberg [PRS]
This video can be freely shared and downloaded at svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14843. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14843. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/.
