Explanation: Investigators suspect the domed feature detailed above is an ice volcano, or cryovolcano, seen in infrared light through the hazy atmosphere on Saturn's moon Titan. Since Titan's surface temperature is around -180 degrees Celsius, 'lava' welling up to form the volcanic mound would be icy indeed - possibly a slurry of of methane, ammonia, and water ice combined with other ices and hydrocarbons. The circular feature is roughly thirty kilometers in diameter. If its volcanic nature is confirmed, the discovery of cryovolcanism on Titan could explain the origin of methane in Titan's atmosphere. Before the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, a popular explanation for replenishing Titan's concentration of atmospheric of methane was the presence of an extensive, methane-rich, hydrocarbon sea. But Cassini's instruments and the Huygens surface probe have failed to find such a global ocean.

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami: Titan - methane - volcano - Titan - vulkan Publikacii so slovami: Titan - methane - volcano - Titan - vulkan
Sm. takzhe: Vulkan Vil'yarrika na fone neba Mlechnyi Put' nad goroi Etna Luna i kol'ca iz dyma nad goroi Etna Venera, Luna i dymyashaya gora Gora Olimp: samyi bol'shoi vulkan v Solnechnoi sisteme Vidy Titana Noch' na zloveshei planete Vse publikacii na tu zhe temu >>