On Titan, Saturn's moon and the second largest planetary satellite in the Solar System, there are possibly waves too . The Earth, then, would not be the only place where this phenomenon occurs.
This was just announced by Jason Barnes, from the University of Idaho, during the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, held in Moscow.
It has been the Cassini spacecraft, which has been flying over Saturn since 2004, that has captured suspicious reflections of the Sun in Punga Mare, one of Titan's seas.
After analyzing the flashes, experts believe that they possibly come from very small wrinkles – just two centimeters – formed on the liquid surface. Until now, no evidence has been found that the wind churns the large deposits of methane, ethane, and other hydrocarbons that dot the Saturnian satellite.
Although in reality, the light footprint is almost negligible: 4 pixels on a completely dark canvas, flat as a mirror. "Don't make plans to surf there," Barnes joked.
Another possibility is that the reflections are coming from a solid , wet surface, something like a terrestrial quagmire.
Astronomers hope that Cassini will photograph other, more conclusive glows in the next few years, because they anticipate the winds then whipping across the northern part of Titan, where most of its lakes and seas are located.
