NASA scientists were able to develop a detailed map of the hydrocarbon lakes and seas on Titan, Saturn's moon, thanks to data from the space agency's Cassini spacecraft, according to a press statement.
The spacecraft's recent fly-by was able to capture intricate details of a region in the Northern Hemisphere of the moon holding nearly all of its hydrocarbon lakes and seas. Using this data, researchers at the agency have created one of the most detailed multi-image mosaics of the region. Some of the new details were captured from an angle different from previous attempts, allowing researchers to map the area around Titan's largest and second largest seas known as Kraken Mare and Ligeia Mare, respectively, and some of the nearby lakes.
"Learning about surface features like lakes and seas helps us to understand how Titan's liquids, solids and gases interact to make it so Earth-like," said Steve Wall, acting radar team lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "While these two worlds aren't exactly the same, it shows us more and more Earth-like processes as we get new views."
The detailed map clearly shows that the moon contains about 9,000 cubic km of mostly liquid methane, which is 40 times more than all the proven oil reservoirs on Earth. Moreover, Kraken Mare was found to be bigger and more complex than previously believed. The images also revealed that 97 percent of the liquid at Titan falls into an area of about 600 miles by 1,100 miles of the moon.
"Scientists have been wondering why Titan's lakes are where they are. These images show us that the bedrock and geology must be creating a particularly inviting environment for lakes in this box," said Randolph Kirk, a Cassini radar team member at the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Ariz. "We think it may be something like the formation of the prehistoric lake called Lake Lahontan near Lake Tahoe in Nevada and California, where deformation of the crust created fissures that could be filled up with liquid."
On studying the second largest sea on the moon, researchers found that Ligeia Mare is about 560 feet deep. This is the first time scientists have been able to measure the depth of the seas on Titian. This was possible because the liquid present was very pure, allowing the radar signal to pass through it easily. Scientists compared the smoothness of this liquid to that of the paint on cars.
Titan is the only other celestial body, other than Earth where liquid is present on its surface. In fact, scientists state that this moon is the most Earth-like structure in the solar system. Researchers also confirmed that the liquid on Titan is mostly methane, similar to Earth.
"What you're talking about here is essentially liquefied natural gas," explained Randy Kirk from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) told BBC News. "People ask me if you could bring it to Earth, and that's a dumb idea on many levels. But what you might not realise is that there simply wouldn't be enough oxygen here to burn it all."
Ever since Cassini started radar mapping the frozen moon in 2004, scientists have referred to Titan as a "wet and weird" world, Wired reported earlier in 2011.
"Titan is fascinating because it has some surprising properties so similar to Earth," the report cited planetary scientist Oded Aharonson from the California Institute of Technology as saying. "It has a liquid which erodes channels, an atmosphere, a hydrologic cycle, and many other parallels."
