Cassini spots lakes on Titan
Posted: Wed, Jul 26, 2006, 7:55 AM ET (1155 GMT)
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has identified what scientists call "very strong evidence" for lakes of hydrocarbon on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. Radar images of the surface of the cloud-enshrouded moon showed several dark features at high latitudes near the moon's north pole. Dark areas in radar images correspond with smooth surfaces, suggesting that these areas lakes containing liquid methane or ethane; in addition, the radar images show what appear to be rims surrounding some of the lakes. Planetary scientists had long suspected that Titan would have lakes or even seas of liquid hydrocarbons, but little evidence of such features had been detected by Cassini since it arrived in the Saturn system two years ago. Scientists did identify last year what may be a lake near the moon's south pole.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has identified what scientists call "very strong evidence" for lakes of hydrocarbon on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. Radar images of the surface of the cloud-enshrouded moon showed several dark features at high latitudes near the moon's north pole. Dark areas in radar images correspond with smooth surfaces, suggesting that these areas lakes containing liquid methane or ethane; in addition, the radar images show what appear to be rims surrounding some of the lakes. Planetary scientists had long suspected that Titan would have lakes or even seas of liquid hydrocarbons, but little evidence of such features had been detected by Cassini since it arrived in the Saturn system two years ago. Scientists did identify last year what may be a lake near the moon's south pole.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
Retired Air Force officer nominated to be NASA deputy administrator
Posted: Sat, May 10 9:44 AM ET (1344 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Sunday, May 11
Spire Global Schedules First Quarter 2025 Results Conference Call
Spire — 4:15 pm ET (2015 GMT) NASA's Webb Lifts Veil on Common but Mysterious Type of Exoplanet
STScI — 9:50 am ET (1350 GMT) Northrop Grumman to Develop Additional Relay Ground Stations to Support US Space Force’s Next-Generation OPIR Program
Northrop Grumman — 9:50 am ET (1350 GMT) AAC Clyde Space wins EUR 570 000 order for power systems
AAC Clyde Space — 9:47 am ET (1347 GMT) Stratolaunch Successfully Completes Reusable Hypersonic Flight and Recovery with Talon-A2 Vehicle
Stratolaunch Systems — 9:46 am ET (1346 GMT) |
