Sunday, January 23, 2005

Methane on the rocks


I have seen the pictures sent back from Titan by Huygens via Cassini this week and all I can say is "WOW!"

It's strange that images that could be almost reassuringly familiar could actually depict such an alien reality. What at first glance seems like unremarkable shorelines and river deltas is made remarkable by the fact that the features in these images are on a very cold planet very much farther from the Sun than the Earth, and the features were formed by methane rain washing down over water ice.

Methane on the rocks, anyone?

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