Cassini spacecraft has discovered possible evidence of the existence of hydrocarbon-filled lakes around Titan's south pole
The Cassini spacecraft has discovered possible evidence of the existence of hydrocarbon-filled lakes around the south pole of Saturn's moon Titan. If the discovery is indeed confirmed, Titan may be the only planetary body in the solar system other than Earth that has lakes.
These are a number of dark spots that channels lead to and from. The channels have a shape from which the scientists conclude that they were created by the flow of liquid. Some of these lakes appear almost black in the radar images and this means that they do not return any radar signal and therefore must be extremely smooth. In some cases you can see a rim around these dark spots, it is possible that these are sites from which the liquid evaporated. The lakes are refilled by rainfall, most likely through seasonal storms.
The methane particles in Titan's atmosphere are more stable in the liquid state in Titan's freezing conditions than the larger molecules of ethane. However, it is not water in any case. For this reason, mission scientists interpret the dark regions as lakes of methane or ethane.
Cassini team members will image these sites again on the spacecraft's next flyby of Titan to determine whether they are indeed bodies of hydrocarbon liquid covering part of the moon's surface.
