Astronomers measure the depth of Titan's largest methane sea

The depth and composition of each of Titan's seas have already been measured, except for the largest: it contains about 80%

surface fluids of the moon.

Earlier, the Cassini mission measured the depth of water bodies on Titan, as well as their composition: the mission pointed the radar at objects and watched how easily it passes through them.

It turned out that the depth of the small sea of ​​Sinus,which is located on Titan, 85 meters. And the largest sea, the Kraken Mare, could not be measured. as it was too deep. Both reservoirs consisted of a mixture of ethane and methane, the second component predominated.

One of the mysteries about the origin of liquid methane:Titan's sunlight is about 100 times less intense than Earth's. Therefore, methane in the atmosphere is constantly being converted to ethane. Over about 10 million years, this process will completely deplete Titan's surface reserves, scientists say.

Now scientists have analyzed all the mission data"Cassini" and believe that the deepest sea of ​​Titan is about 0.3 km at its lowest point. And in terms of volume, the Kraken Mare is comparable to the sum of the five Great Lakes. Scientists suggest that the sea can be explored in a robotic submarine.

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