Liquid Lakes Confirmed on Titan

This is an exciting story coming out of NASA this week. Using the Cassini spacecraft, we have now determined that liquid lakes exist on the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan.

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA scientists have concluded that at least one of the large lakes observed on Saturn’s moon Titan contains liquid hydrocarbons, and have positively identified the presence of ethane. This makes Titan the only body in our solar system beyond Earth known to have liquid on its surface.

Scientists made the discovery using data from an instrument aboard the Cassini spacecraft. The instrument identified chemically different materials based on the way they absorb and reflect infrared light.

Hydrocarbon chains, methane, and ethane are some of the fundamental building blocks believed to be requirements for the development of life, and likely mimic conditions found on the early Earth. Of course, this shouldn’t have us leaping to the conclusion that further exploration will find Saturnians lounging around watching CNN in some caves near the lakes. There are quite a few other factors which make the environment pretty hostile, including the lack of any usable quantity of water on the world and the fact that the average temperature of 300 below zero would instantly freeze it anyway.

The liquid in the lakes is, of course, not water. It’s a mixture of ethane and methane which can exist as both a liquid and a solid at those temperatures and atmospheric pressure. You’re not going to break out a fishing pole and hook any trout here. But as the only other body in the solar system where liquid exists on the surface, it’s still a significant discovery.

Picture credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute