A "Dragon" on the Surface of Titan

[The Sushi Bandit]

http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2004/pr-09-04.html

New images of unsurpassed clarity have been obtained with the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) of formations on the surface of Titan, the largest moon in the Saturnian system. They were made by an international research team <1> during recent commissioning observations with the "Simultaneous Differential Imager (SDI)", a novel optical device, just installed at the NACO Adaptive Optics instrument <2>.

With the high-contrast SDI camera, it is possible to obtain extremely sharp images in three colours simultaneously. Although mainly conceived for exoplanet imaging, this device is also very useful for observations of objects with thick atmospheres in the solar system like Titan. Peering at the same time through a narrow, unobscured near-infrared spectral window in the dense methane atmosphere and an adjacent non-transparent waveband, images were obtained that are virtually uncontaminated by atmospheric components. They map the reflectivity of a large number of surface features in unprecedented detail.

The images show a number of surface regions with very different reflectivity. Of particular interest are several large "dark" areas of uniformly low reflectivity. One possible interpretation is that they represent huge surface reservoirs of liquid hydrocarbons.

[ArmchairActivist]

1. Liquid hyrdocarbons?!?!

Ya hear that Cheney? It looks like there could be OIL in outer space! Why dontcha go take a looksee real quick...

[The Sushi Bandit]

2. Yea.. but he will freeze his nuts off at -224 degrees!