NASA's Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn, has returned high-resolution images showing the planet's moon, Titan, from a distance of 340,000km (212,000 miles), revealing no evidence of a liquid surface. One image shows what are thought to be bright methane clouds. "We are a little perplexed," says Kevin Baines, a member of the spectrometer team, while another scientist thought the surface had a texture "like that of melting ice cream sundae". It is thought that carbon-based compounds on the surface of Titan - the largest moon in the solar system and with an atmosphere one and half times as dense as the Earth's - resemble those that may once have existed on Earth. A much closer inspection of Titan's surface will be made by the European Space Agency's Huygens lander in December.
Source: Flight International
