FIRST-EVER PHOTO OF LIQUID ON AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL WORLD - WIRED
Among the pictures snapped by the Huygens probe after landing on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005, one appears to show a dewdrop made of methane that briefly formed on the edge of the probe itself. Scientists think heat from the probe caused humid air to rise and condense on the cold edge of the craft.
Though Huygens had a hand in producing it, the methane drop is still the first liquid directly detected at the surface anywhere beyond Earth.
Like Earth, Titan has clouds, lakes, and river channels, and it may be the only other place in the solar system where liquid evaporates from the surface and returns as rain. "Aside from Earth, it's the most exciting world there is," said lead author Erich Karkoschka of the University of Arizona in Tucson.
The Cassini space probe, which took data from above the moon after separating from the Huygens lander, detected what scientists believe are lakes of liquid methane on Titan's surface. Microbes that eat methane thrive on Earth, and scientists think pools of methane could be comfortable homes for similar organisms on Titan.
Because Titan's current atmosphere is a lot like the early Earth's, the lakes could be a lab for studying the origins and early evolution of life.
- Lisa Grossman
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