Cassini Discovers Strong Evidence for Lakes on Titan

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-details.cfm?imageID=2214

[Two radar views of Titan]

Lakes on Titan
July 24, 2006
Full-Res: PIA08630
<http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08630>

The Cassini spacecraft, using its radar system, has discovered very
strong evidence for hydrocarbon lakes on Titan. Dark patches, which
resemble terrestrial lakes, seem to be sprinkled all over the high
latitudes surrounding Titan's north pole.

Scientists have speculated that liquid methane or ethane might form
lakes on Titan, particularly near the somewhat colder polar regions. In
the images, a variety of dark patches, some with channels leading in or
out of them, appear. The channels have a shape that strongly implies
they were carved by liquid. Some of the dark patches and connecting
channels are completely black, that is, they reflect back essentially
no
radar signal, and hence must be extremely smooth. In some cases rims
can
be seen around the dark patches, suggesting deposits that might form as
liquid evaporates. The abundant methane in Titan's atmosphere is stable
as a liquid under Titan conditions, as is its abundant chemical
product,
ethane, but liquid water is not. For all these reasons, scientists
interpret the dark areas as lakes of liquid methane or ethane, making
Titan the only body in the solar system besides Earth known to possess
lakes. Because such lakes may wax and wane over time, and winds may
alter the roughness of their surfaces. Repeat coverage of these areas
should test whether indeed these are bodies of liquid.

These two radar images were acquired by the Cassini radar instrument in
synthetic aperture mode on July 21, 2006. The top image centered near
80
degrees north, 92 degrees west measures about 420 kilometers by 150
kilometers (260 miles by 93 miles). The lower image centered near 78
degrees north, 18 degrees west measures about 475 kilometers by 150
kilometers (295 miles by 93 miles). Smallest details in this image are
about 500 meters (1,640 feet) across.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the
European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and
assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian
Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and
several European countries.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov .

Credit: NASA/JPL

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