More liquid lakes found on Titan
JUN 14, 2012
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.026103
National Geographic : The Cassini spacecraft, currently in orbit around Saturn, has discovered large quantities of liquid methane near Titan’s equator, with one lake about the size of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. One of the largest moons in the solar system, Titan is the only object except Earth that is known to contain liquids on its surface. Cassini had previously spotted liquid methane lakes near the poles, but the equator region was considered too dry for methane to condense out of the atmosphere. According to the researchers, whose work was published in Nature today, the liquid methane may come from subterranean reservoirs.
More about the authors
Paul Guinnessy, pguinnes@aip.org
© 2012 American Institute of Physics
