Saturn has a full moon Titan with a lake deep enough to study a robot submarine, say scientists

Astronomers have estimated the depth of an outer lake – almost as large as the five Great Lakes combined – at 1,000 ft., Which may be ideal for a future robotic submarine. study.

Saturn has 82 moons, but Titan is the largest. It is larger than the planet Mercury. The only known moon in the Solar System with atmosphere, Titan contains water, storms, lakes, oceans, valleys, mountain ridges, mesas and forts.

Its maximum sea depth – “Kraken Mare” – has now been measured.

“The depth and shape of all of Titan’s oceans have already been measured, with the exception of Titan’s largest ocean, Kraken Mare, which not only has a good reputation, but also contains about 80% of the surface’s liquid. lunar, ”said lead author Valerio Poggiali, research associate at the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science (CCAPS).

Surprisingly, the data for this discovery were collected at a flyby of Titan by NASA’s Cassini probe on August 21, 2014, but it is now only filtered and published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

Titan also has strange minerals that do not exist on Earth, which are suspected to form rings around Titan lakes, including Karen Mare.

These are not ordinary oceans, however, and Titan, although “Earth-like” compared to other planets and the moon in the Solar System, is not very similar to our own planet. . Its atmosphere is 98% nitrogen and 2% methane, and there is no water in the oceans and lakes, but molten ethane and methane.

Kraken Mare – discovered by Cassini in 2008 and named after the sea monster – is the most well – known liquid group on the surface of Titan. There are also island islands.

The data comes from echoes of radar waves sent by Cassini as it flew 600 miles above Titan. Astronauts found an accurate measure of the depth of the liquid at Moray Sinus, an estuary located at the northern end of Kraken Mare, and extracted from it because the main sea was too deep for the radar to measure.

Should we send a robotic submarine to Kraken Mare? “Thanks to our measurements, scientists can now detect the density of the liquid with higher accuracy, resulting in a better calibration of the sonar on board the vessel and an understanding of the directional flow of the sea, ”Said Poggiali.

In a separate study published this week, scientists from the CNRS, Sorbonne University and the University of Pisa have shown that Titan may be responsible for the 27 ° tilt of Saturn.

Titan and the other branches appear to be gradually moving away from Saturn much faster than astronomers had previously thought. The researchers’ calculations show that as its satellites move farther, Saturn’s orbital axis tightens more and more.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.