P
Philotas
Guest
<p>From SDC; observations with VIMS made the confirmation possible.</p><p>"""</p><p>[...]</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">Possible evidence for lake-like features came from radar images, but this method can't distinguish between liquid and very fine gravel or other tiny solids, Brown explained. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">"Detection of liquid ethane in Ontario Lacus confirms a long-held idea that lakes and seas filled with methane and ethane exist on Titan," said researcher Larry Soderblom of the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Ariz.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">Titan lake</span></strong></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">Soderblom, Brown and their colleagues used the infrared abilities of Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer, or VIMS, to peer through Titan's cotton-ball-like veil of hydrocarbons that extends more than 620 miles (1,000 km) above the moon's surface. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">The measurements showed three features of the lake structure: the shoreline, or the outer edge of the lake; the so-called beach just inside the shoreline, which could be a sort of "bathtub ring" of material left behind as the ethane mixture evaporated; and the lake's interior, which appears dark, the researchers say.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">"It seems to have partially evaporated, and that makes sense because the south pole has just gone through summer," Brown told <em>SPACE.com</em>. "The maximum evaporation will have already occurred or is in the process of occurring."</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">He added, "There's still a lot of liquid left in that lake, and we don't think it's going to evaporate much further."</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">[...]</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">""""</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080730-titan-lake.html</span></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>