Surprise 4,000 Mile 'Ice Corridor' Found on Saturn's Moon Titan

NASA's Cassini spacecraft used infrared cameras to map beneath the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Nantes/University of Arizona) The great Age of Exploration may be over on Earth, but it’s just getting going on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. It's a world larger than even the planet Mercury. NASA's Cassini spacecraft surveyed the moon (along with Saturn and its other moons) for 13 years, and even deployed a lander, Huygens, to Titan’s surface. But although Cassini’s mission ended in 2017, its data lives on, and planetary scientists continue to learn more about the history and surface features of this strangely Earth-like moon. Researchers have spotted surprisingly diverse landscapes on Titan, from broad planes to sandy dunes and even rivers and lakes. But since the world is so cold, these features are made up of liquid methane and other organic compounds that slosh over a bedrock of solid, rock-hard ice. It’s tough to get great observations of the surface, though, because the moon’s atmosphere is a dense haze. But even though the clouds make it tough to get good data, a paper this week in Nature Astronomy shows how useful a new analysis technique can be in mapping Titan and understanding its subtle surface features. And, almost as a bonus, it also spotted an entirely unexpected feature: a ribbon of exposed bedrock ice that wraps nearly halfway around the moon.