Has Cassini Found Lakes on Titan At Last ?
The Planetary Society is reporting some really interesting news:
Saturn’s moon Titan was once thought to conceal a global ocean of methane and ethane beneath its smoggy atmosphere. However, while the landforms seen by Cassini and Huygens show ample evidence of past modification by the action of flowing liquids, actual bodies of present liquid have proven elusive through more than two years of investigation. Until now. During a July 22, 2006 flyby, Cassini’s RADAR instrument has finally unveiled what appears to be a land of lakes in Titan’s northern polar regions.
Pretty neat stuff, and this image is a neat example of some of the data they’ve got..
August 1st, 2006 at 8:43 am
Ooh! Look! I can leave a comment!
I have nothing to add to your cool lakes on Titan post, I just wanted to see if I could actually leave comment. And I can.
August 1st, 2006 at 11:52 am
I’m waiting to see what these lakes *do*.
If they’re half as impressive as features like Mars’ landmark Valles Marineris, then they’ll be well worth waiting for. Lots of outer moons, comets and the like have turned out to be surprising in various ways, so I wait with ‘bated breath. (-:
August 2nd, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Leon, you’re not the only one. There are rumours of features that could be pot holes or caverns nearby, though nothing published yet!
Mel, glad to see it works for you at last!
August 3rd, 2006 at 10:23 pm
Don’t let that get out or the spelunkers will be planning an expedition there sure as God made little apples grow into great big oak trees.