Lakes of Titan

False-color, medium-resolution Cassini synthetic aperture radar mosaic of Titan's north polar region, showing hydrocarbon seas, lakes and tributary networks. Blue coloring indicates low radar reflectivity areas, caused by bodies of liquid ethane, methane and dissolved nitrogen.[1] Kraken Mare, the largest sea on Titan, is at lower left. Ligeia Mare is the large body below the pole, and Punga Mare at half its size is just left of the pole. White areas have not been imaged.

Lakes of liquid ethane and methane exist on the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. This was confirmed by the Cassini–Huygens space probe, as had been suspected since the 1980s.[2] The large bodies of liquid are known as maria (seas) and the small ones as lacūs (lakes).[3]

  1. ^ Coustenis, A.; Taylor, F. W. (21 July 2008). Titan: Exploring an Earthlike World. World Scientific. pp. 154–155. ISBN 978-981-281-161-5. OCLC 144226016. Retrieved 2013-12-29.
  2. ^ Mitri, Giuseppe; Showman, Adam P.; Lunine, Jonathan I.; Lorenz, Ralph D. (2007-02-01). "Hydrocarbon lakes on Titan". Icarus. 186 (2): 385–394. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2006.09.004. ISSN 0019-1035.
  3. ^ "Titan". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS. Retrieved 2013-12-29.

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