Extraterrestrial islands: Titan
April 4th, 2006PBS’s “NOVA” this evening suggests that Saturn’s huge moon Titan likely has islands.
It was once thought that the moon might have methane seas or lakes. That may not be the case, but it may have two kinds of islands:
- Methane is a liquid on supercold Titan, and methane flows in river channels that resemble those of Earth. There are probably both sedimentary islands and a few flowing around ice bedrock.
- There are water islands as well: cryovolcanoes erupt water mixed with ammonia, forming a frigid water lava that sometimes surrounds islands.