NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection

Possible Methane Lakes on Titan

Have methane lakes been discovered on Saturn's Titan? That exciting possibility was uncovered from analyses of radar images [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] returned last week by the robotic Cassini spacecraft [ http://en.wikipedia…] now orbiting Saturn. The above image [ http://photojournal…] is a radar reflection from terrain near Titan's North Pole and spans a region about 200 kilometers across. Evidence [ http://www.planetar…] that the dark areas might be pools of liquid hydrocarbons [ http://en.wikipedia…] includes an extreme smoothness implied by the lack of a return radar signal [ http://earth.rice.e…], and apparently connected tributaries. If true, Titan would be only the second body in our Solar System [ http://space.jpl.na…], after Earth, found to possess liquids on the surface. Future observations from Cassini during Titan [ http://saturn.astro…] flybys might test the methane [ http://en.wikipedia…] lake hypothesis, as comparative wind affects on the regions are studied.

Cassini Radar Mapper [ http://saturn.jpl.n…], JPL [ http://www.jpl.nasa…], ESA [ http://www.esa.int/], NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/]

Saturn

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

Earth

Saturn

Cassini

Titan

DMSP

Huygens Probe

Cassini-Huygens

Radar Mapper

http://antwrp.gsfc.…

SPD-APOD-ap060731