This incredible photograph taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows two lakes on the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan, attached by a thin channel. The image was taken during Cassini’s most recent flyby, when it passed by on September 23, 2006. On Earth, they’d be filled with water, but it’s just too cold on Titan; so these lakes contain a mixture of methane and ethane.
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Evidence of Lakes on Titan
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has found new evidence of hydrocarbon lakes in Titan’s northern latitudes. In a new set of images, the dark patches – thought to be liquid methane or ethane – seem to have channels leading in and out, like rivers. Under Cassini’s radar view, they’re completely black, which means they don’t reflect any radar signals back. This leads scientists to believe they’re very smooth, liquid surfaces.
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Titan Behind Saturn and the Rings
This photograph shows Titan partly obscured behind Saturn and its rings. The image was taken from above the ringplane, and shows the side of the planet unlit by the Sun. Cassini captured this view on May 10, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.9 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Saturn.
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