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Pictures of Titan's Lakes

Posted by samzenpus on from the in-space-nobody-can-hear-you-fish dept.

sighted writes "For decades, scientists have wondered if the thick orange haze that shrouds Saturn's giant moon Titan hid lakes of liquid methane on the surface, but there was no way to confirm it, until now. The Cassini flyby of July 22, 2006 took these striking images and were released today."

3 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Vacation on Titan by garcia · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That would then be like vacationing in Bayonne, NJ or Scranton, PA and no one wants to do that.

  2. Re:why is liquid methane a big deal? by Nasarius · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ehhh...the average surface temperature of Titan is estimated to be 90 Kelvin, compared to Mars at 210 Kelvin. It seems extremely unlikely that the kinds of chemical reactions necessary for any kind of life could occur.

    The discovery is a "big deal" because we know something about part of our solar system we didn't know before. If you read the articles, part of the discovery is a likely methane rainfall cycle, including "methanifers" (analogous to aquifers). It's fascinating stuff, IMO.

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  3. Re:Any signs of Transformers...? by NeuroManson · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No, that's just Michael Bay.

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