Saturn's moon Titan is drifting away from it faster then before - Curiosity Streamer

Saturn's largest moon Titan is drifting away from it. Titan was born very close to Saturn, but over the course of 4.5 billion year to moved away from the Saturn and reached the position of now. Now it approximately 746,000 miles (1.2 million km) away from the Saturn. But, a recent study shows that it is moving away from the Saturn 100 times more faster then previous times.  
                                     

Saturn and its moon Titan, as seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.  (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute)

"Most prior work had predicted that moons like Titan or Jupiter's moon Callisto were formed at an orbital distance similar to where we see them now," Jim Fuller, assistant professor of theoretical astrophysics at Caltech and co-author on the new study. "This implies that the Saturnian moon system, and potentially its rings, have formed and evolved more dynamically than previously believed."

Every natural satellites exert a gravitational pull on the planets they orbit, likewise our moon exert a gravitational pull on the earth which causes the tidal waves in oceans. On our planet, friction inside of Earth from this tugging creates heat, which alters the planet's gravitational field. This gradually pushes the moon farther away from Earth, about 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) every year. On our planet, friction inside of Earth from this tugging creates heat, which alters the planet's gravitational field. This gradually pushes the moon farther away from Earth, about 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) every year. 

In the same way Titan tugs on Saturn. But Saturn has weak friction it has a gaseous thick atmosphere meanwhile in earth it has rocky surface.  Previous research has suggested that the moon should be moving away from Saturn at just 0.04 inches (0.1 cm) per year. But this new work suggests that Titan is actually moving away from its planet at a whopping 4.3 inches (11 cm) every year.    

To measure the orbital distance of Titan astronomers used two different technique called astrometry and radiometry.  In astrometry, astronomers precisely measure the positions and movements of stars and other celestial objects to determine Titan's position in relation to those "nearby" objects, as seen in images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The other team used radiometry, a set of techniques by which astronomers measure electromagnetic radiation, including visible light, to calculate Cassini's velocity as it zoomed by Titan. Knowing the spacecraft's velocity allowed the researchers to measure the moon's gravitational influence on the craft. This helped the team to study and measure the moon's gravitational pull.

With this two sets of data, we obtained results that are in full agreement," Valéry Lainey the lead author on the paper who worked with the astrometry team, said in the same statement. Lainey previously worked with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California and now works at the Paris Observatory in France. 

These findings also align with a theory that Fuller proposed in 2016, which estimated that Titan's outward migration was happening much faster than previously predicted. According to this theory, Titan gravitationally "squeezes" Saturn in a way that makes the planet oscillate, and the energy from these oscillations would cause the moon to migrate faster than previously expected. 

This new work is described in a paper published  in the journal Nature Astronomy.