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Shortly before diving into the atmosphere of Saturn at the end of 2017, NASA's Cassini spacecraft made an incredible observation on Titan, the moon of the ringed planet: its lakes are extraordinarily deep and filled with methane.
Titan, the largest moon of Saturn and the second largest natural satellite of the solar system behind Jupiter's moon, Ganymede, has methane rains that can fill the lakes to a depth of 100 meters, according to a new study published in the scientific journal Astronomy.
"Whenever we make discoveries on Titan, Titan becomes more and more mysterious," said lead author Marco Mastrogiuseppe, a Cassini radar researcher at Caltech in a statement. "But these new metrics help answer a few key questions.We can now better understand Titan's hydrology."
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The researchers found that the hydrological cycle on Titan is similar to that of the Earth, except that clouds and rain are not water, but methane and ethane. Because of Titan's freezing cold (it can reach -290 degrees Fahrenheit), these hydrocarbons remain in liquid form, unlike gas, their state on Earth.
This near-infrared color view of Cassini shows the sun shimmering off the northern polar seas of Titan. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona / Univ Idaho)
The hydrology of Titan's northern hemisphere is different from that of the other side, according to Cassini's scientist and co-author, Jonathan Lunine of Cornell University.
"It's as if you're looking at the North Pole of the Earth and you could see that the geological backgrounds of North America were completely different from those in Asia," Lunine said. its press release.
A second article published in Nature deepens Titan's hydrological cycle, noting that there appears to be "seasonal surface changes," responsible for changes in surface liquids.
After spending 13 years studying the planet, Cassini deliberately plunged into the atmosphere of Saturn in September 2017.
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A life based on methane?
The prospect of a methane-based life on Titan had already been postulated, after NASA discovered traces of vinyl cyanide in the atmosphere last year.
In January, researchers revealed that fresh rains were spotted on Titan in 2016, which caused a reflection phenomenon near the north pole of the moon.
In September 2018, dust storms were sighted on Titan for the first time in its history, suggesting that storms could be a precursor to alien life on the celestial body.
It is possible that storms are composed of "organic molecules," said NASA, because of the chemistry of the atmosphere. The Titan atmosphere is composed of 98.4% nitrogen, 1.6% methane and 0.1-0.2% hydrogen.
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However, once the organic molecules become large enough, they eventually fall to the surface of Titan and may play a role in the dust storms.
The prevalence of dust storms and strong winds on Titan implies that the underlying sand can also be displaced and that the "giant dunes" that cover the equatorial regions of the moon are constantly changing and still active.
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