NASA has captured a spectacular image of light reflection in the northern hemisphere of Titan, the largest moon of the planet Saturn, illustrating the existence of surface liquid on the planetary body.The image, took by the Cassini Spacecraft's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer on July 8, is the first of its kind.
Scientists had formerly discovered lakes of surface liquid in the moon's southern hemisphere using infrared. It makes Titan the only other body besides Earth believed to harbour liquid on its surface.
Identified as a specular reflection, the sparkle of light has been the focus of Cassini's mission as the craft made contact with Saturn in 2004. But, Titan's northern hemisphere has been shrouded in winter darkness for much of that time.
Sun only began to directly illuminate the northern lakes, which significantly outnumber the amount found in the southern hemisphere, in the moon's spring equinox in August this year.
'This one image communicates so much about Titan - thick atmosphere, surface lakes and otherworldliness,' said Cassini project scientist Bob Pappalardo in a press release. 'It is an unsettling combination of strangeness yet similarity to Earth.'
The sparkle comes from the southern shoreline of the sprawling Kraken Mare Lake, which covers about 400,000 square kilometers of Titan’s surface.
Cassini team member, Ralf Jaumann, said: 'These results remind us how unique Titan is in the solar system. But they also show us that liquid has a universal power to shape geological surfaces in the same way, no matter what the liquid is.'
'Next, we need to find out more about Titan's liquid. Do we’ve some kind of weather there? Do we’ve changes with seasons? Does it rain? How does the liquid methane run across the surface?'
Scientists have been captivated by Titan for lots of years with the belief that its rich carbon atmosphere is same to that found on our planet in its youth.
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