WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Newly assembled radar images from the Cassini spacecraft provide the best view of the hydrocarbon lakes and seas on the north pole of Saturn's moon Titan, while a new radar image reveals that Titan's south polar region also has lakes, NASA reported on Thursday.
A new mosaic image, created by stitching together radar images from seven Titan flybys over the last year and a half, shows a north pole pitted with giant lakes and seas, at least one of them larger than Lake Superior. And the southern region images were beamed back after an Oct. 2 flyby.
Approximately 60 percent of Titan's north polar region above 60degrees latitude has been mapped by Cassini's radar instrument. About 14 percent of the mapped region is covered by what scientists interpret as liquid hydrocarbon lakes.
Lakes and seas are very common at the high northern latitudes of Titan, which is in winter now. Scientists say it rains methane and ethane there, filling the lakes and seas. These liquids also carve meandering rivers and channels on the moon's surface.
Now Cassini is moving into unknown territory, the south pole of Titan. "We wanted to see if there are more lakes present there and, sure enough, there they are, three little lakes smiling back at us.Titan is indeed the land of lakes and seas," said Rosaly Lopes, Cassini radar scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
It is now summer at Titan's south pole. A season on Titan lasts nearly 7.5 years, one quarter of a Saturn year, which is 29.5 years long. Monitoring seasonal change helps scientists understand the processes at work there.
