“Cassini” found on Titan flooded canyons – BBC News

NASA spacecraft “Cassini” (Cassini) found on Saturn’s moon Titan deep steep canyons, which are filled with liquid hydrocarbons. The discovery is the first direct evidence of fluid-filled channels on Titan, as well as the first observation of the canyons depth of hundreds of meters

The astronomers analyzed the data from the “Cassini”, which were obtained in May 2013 -. While the machine close close to the satellite. During the flyby tools “Cassini” focused on the channels branching from the great sea Ligei (Ligeia Mare).

Observations “Cassini” showed that the channels, in particular their network channels Type (Vid Flumina), are narrow (width of a little less than a kilometer) canyons with steep slopes, the angle of inclination of not less than 40 degrees. But the canyons are quite deep – from 240 to 570 m

Branched channels appear in the radar image dark, as rich sea methane on Titan. This allowed the researchers to suggest that the channels can also be filled with liquid, but direct evidence of this so far has not.

Previously, scientists could not figure out whether this dark material is a liquid or a saturated sediment, which at rather cold temperatures on Titan may be composed of ice, not stone.

Radar “Cassini” is often used as an “imager” (ie, camera), making it possible to see the moon through the fog, surrounding Titan. But during flyby satellite radar is also used as an altimeter (flight and navigation device indicating a flight altitude) by sending radio waves on the surface of the satellite to measure the height of objects. Researchers pooled data from the altimeter to previous radar images in order to make a new discovery.

The key to understanding the nature of the channels has become the radar signal “Cassini”, reflected from the base object. Tool “Cassini” observed sheen that suggests an extremely smooth surface, as it was fixed and the hydrocarbon seas of Titan.

The presence of such deep channels in the landscape indicates that educated their processes were much more active during the long time, or erosion was much faster than in other locations on the surface of Titan. The proposed scenario, the researchers include raising the elevation and sea level change. It is possible that there were two factors.

 

“It is likely that the combination of these forces contributed to the formation of deep canyons, but at the moment it is unclear the extent to which each of them has affected it is obvious that any description of the geological evolution of Titan should explain the formation of the canyon.” – Says lead author Valerio pursing studies (Valerio Poggiali) from the University of Rome La Sapienza.

 

It is noted that the data altimeter revealed another interesting detail: in some canyons around the sea Ligei liquid is at sea level, while in others – up to tens of meters above the

Future work will be directed. study on the other channels. The researchers hope their work will help create a more complete picture of how the landscape of Saturn’s moon was formed.

The research is published in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters.