THE Caribbean it ain鈥檛, but the 鈥渢ropical鈥� regions of Saturn鈥檚 moon Titan seem to harbour lakes of liquid methane. The pools are surprisingly long-lasting, suggesting that they may be replenished by underground wells of hydrocarbons.
The Cassini spacecraft confirmed the presence of liquid-hydrocarbon lakes in Titan鈥檚 polar regions in 2004, but it was unclear whether similar pools could survive in the moon鈥檚 marginally warmer lower latitudes 鈥� its 鈥渢ropics鈥� 鈥� without evaporating.
and colleagues at the University of Arizona in Tucson analysed the sunlight reflected from Titan鈥檚 tropical regions, recorded by Cassini. They found a highly reflective oval-shaped black feature, 2400 square kilometres in size. They say the combination of shape and colour is consistent with a liquid methane lake (). If it is a lake, it is long-lived, persisting since at least 2004, through both rainy and dry seasons. This means it鈥檚 unlikely to be a big rain puddle and could be fed by hydrocarbon wells, say the researchers.
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, a planetary scientist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, says such lakes might be good habitats for simple life, but that Titan鈥檚 larger polar lakes are better candidates.
