The Times has an article announcing the discovery of methane lakes on Titan:
The discovery, reported yesterday by an international team of researchers, was made by a radar survey of Titan's high northern latitudes by the Cassini spacecraft, which has been orbiting Saturn and its retinue of satellites since July 2004. One of the mission's major objectives is the investigation of Titan's environment, thought to be a frigid version of conditions on the primordial Earth.
The radar imaging system detected more than 75 dark patches in the landscape near Titan's northern polar region, the scientists said in a detailed description of the find published today in the journal Nature.
Here's a link to the Nature issue in question, but as they're total bastards, you can't even read the news item about the results without a subscription.
It's a good time to be a planetary scientist.
Comments
It is indeed a good time to be a scientist. Discovery of methane leads to a mystery of how it is produced. This may even invoke Thomas Gold's hypothesis that a planet can produce hydrocarbons.
Posted by: Louise | January 4, 2007 7:54 PM