FutureWire - futurism and emerging technology

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

[FOLLOWUP] Cassini Relays Perplexing Titan Pix

After its successful fly-by of Saturn's moon Titan, the Cassini space probe sent back surface images, the most detailed yet seen. However, scientists don't know exactly what they're looking at yet.



The infrared photos appear to reveal some types of topography, which may be coastlines or mountains. Some features may be clouds, while others might be lakes of liquid methane. Titan is the only moon in the Solar System in the atmosphere, yet it is so cold that substances that would normally be gases on earth are liquefied.