Thursday, December 29, 2011

Titan's Hydrocrabon Seas

A false-color map of the Sea of Ligeia, one of the largest lakes on Titan, based on radar data from the Cassini spacecraft. Titan has clouds, rain, rivers, and seas, but since the temperature is minus 300 F (-150 C), the liquid is not water but hydrocarbons like methane and ethane.

Some black and white radar maps. Above, an island in the Sea of Kraken, mapped by Cassini; below, river channels, mapped by the Huygens probe on its way to the surface.

1 comment:

  1. Never heard of 'hydrocrabon'... :-) Got steamed crabs on your mind?

    Tommy.

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