The Saturn moon Titan might have a vast ocean of water beneath its surface. The breakthrough discovery was made by the Cassini spacecraft in a geographical location that suggest an ocean is 60 miles under the surface. Data from the early observations allowed researchers to establish the geographical locations of 50 landmarks including lakes, canyons and mountains. Titan moon: The second largest in the solar system near Saturn with a diameter of 3,200 miles, larger than Mercury.

Saturn Titan Moon Exploration Discovers Ocean

By Bill Waters
Mar 21, 2008 12:55 PM GMT
The Saturn moon Titan might have a vast ocean of water beneath its surface. The breakthrough discovery was made by the Cassini spacecraft in a geographical location that suggest an ocean is 60 miles under the surface. Data from the early observations allowed researchers to establish the geographical locations of 50 landmarks including lakes, canyons and mountains.

The Saturn moon Titan might have a vast ocean of water about 60 miles beneath its surface.

Scientists say the orange moon of Saturn may have a vast ocean of water and ammonia deep beneath the surface of Titan.

While Scientists have not directly observed the ocean, the breakthrough discovery was made by the Cassini spacecraft in a geographical location that suggest an ocean is 60 miles under the surface.

Titan is Saturn's largest moon and the second biggest in the solar system, only slightly smaller than Jupiter's moon Ganymede. Titan's diameter of about 3,200 miles is larger than the planet Mercury and the dwarf planet Pluto.

Cassini, exploring Saturn and its moons in an ongoing US-European mission, collected measurements using radar that penetrated Titan's thick clouds during 19 passes over the moon from October 2005 to May 2007.

Data from the early observations allowed researchers to establish the geographical locations of 50 landmarks including lakes, canyons and mountains on Titan's surface. They looked at later radar data and discovered that prominent surface features had shifted location by up to 19 miles.

Researchers believe the ocean is water with only a few percent ammonia.

Filed Under:   Titan News   Space Exploration


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The Saturn moon Titan might have a vast ocean of water beneath its surface. The breakthrough discovery was made by the Cassini spacecraft in a geographical location that suggest an ocean is 60 miles under the surface. Data from the early observations allowed researchers to establish the geographical locations of 50 landmarks including lakes, canyons and mountains.