Madrid. (EP) .- spacecraft Cassini NASA is following the evolution of a mysterious feature the sea of oil Ligeia Mare in the Moon Saturn Titan . Through the images captured by the probe, scientists have found that the appearance of this large body of water, one of the largest satellite, has changed in recent years.
In one of the Cassini observations in July 2013, the mission team saw a feature in the photographs, shone on the dark background of the liquid sea. It was the first time that this anomaly, which did not appear in the data from previous flybys looked.
Scientists were puzzled to find this shine and discover that, months later, it had vanished. This led to some team members to suggest it might have been a transient feature. But during the flyby on August 21, 2014, the property was again visible. That is, his appearance had changed in the past 11 months since he was last seen.
NASA has already ruled that this event is the result of a defect in the Cassini radar and it is therefore evaporation in the sea as the coast of Ligeia Mare has not changed significantly. On the contrary, it has been suggested that this feature might be the result of surface waves, rising bubbles, a floating solid or suspended just below the surface, or perhaps “something more exotic.”
Researchers suspect that the appearance of this feature could be related to the change of seasons in Titan . Monitoring such changes is an important current goal Cassini extended mission.
“Science loves mysteries, and this enigmatic feature, we have a thrilling example of ongoing changes on Titan” he pointed out one of the leaders of the mission, Stephen Wall. “We hope that we will be able to continue watching the changes unfold and get an idea about what is happening in that alien sea,” he concluded.
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