Largest sea on Saturn's mysterious moon Titan could be more than 1,000 feet deep

[Judi Lynn]

By Elizabeth Howell 9 hours ago



An artist's depiction of a sea on Saturn's moon Titan.
(Image: © NASA/John Glenn Research Center)

NASA's epic Cassini mission at Saturn is still generating valuable scientific data more than three years after its demise.

Data from one of the spacecraft's last flybys of Titan, a large moon with the precursors of life's chemistry, reveals that a huge lake on the surface called Kraken Mare is more than 1,000 feet ( 300 meters) deep — that's roughly the equivalent of the height of New York City's Chrysler Building. In fact, the lake is so deep that Cassini's radar couldn't probe all the way to the bottom.

Back in 2014, preliminary data from this flyby suggested that Kraken Mare was at least 115 feet (35 meters) deep but extend farther; the newly released results show the lake is nearly 10 times deeper than that early estimate.

Understanding the depth and composition of Kraken Mare will gradually reveal more about Titan's mysterious chemistry, dominated by ethane and methane that collects in pools, lakes and rivers on the surface, researchers said. The importance of the lake stems from Kraken Mare's immense size; if placed on Earth, it would cover all five of the Great Lakes of North America.

More:
https://www.space.com/saturn-moon-titan-sea-1000-feet-deep?utm_source=notification

[wryter2000]

1. That's gorgeous

Wish I could see it in person.

I don't know why we spend so much money and effort--and risk to humans--on the space station when we get so much more from probes like this.