NASA release incredible image of the seldom seen surface of Saturn's Titan moon

The image revealed the polar seas on one of Saturn’s moons alongside sun glints.

17:26 06 November 2014

US space agency NASA has released incredible pictures revealing the polar seas on one of Saturn’s moons alongside sun glints for the first time. The image also showed sun light reflecting off Titan’s swirling surface.

Titan, which is mainly composed of water, ice, and rocky material is Saturn’s biggest moon and is the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter’s Ganymede. This is the first time that Cassini has captured images of polar seas and the sun shining against them together.

From the image, scientists found that the Kraken Mare sea was larger at some point in the past, but has since evaporated.

Cassini captured the breathtaking shot by flying by Titan, with the area seen immediately to the right of the sunlight being the highest resolution data collected so far. It shows the channels that connect two large seas: Ligeia Mare and Kraken Mare.

Ligeia Mare is covered by arrow-shaped clouds, which are made of liquid methane droplets and could be actively refilling the lakes with rainfall.