---
title: "Saturn’s Moon Titan is Covered in Earth-Like Lakes"
description: "By analyzing data from Cassini spacecraft's last flyby in 2017, scientists found that Saturn's largest moon Titan has an entire lake district."
date: "2019-04-16"
modified: "2019-04-16"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/saturns-moon-titan-covered-earth-lakes"
categories:
  - "Astronomy"
  - "Moon"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "saturn"
  - "supraglacial lakes"
  - "the digest"
  - "Titan"
---

# Saturn’s Moon Titan is Covered in Earth-Like Lakes

![By analyzing data from Cassini spacecraft's last flyby in 2017, scientists found that Saturn's largest moon Titan has an entire lake district.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/saturns-moon-titan-is-covered-in-earth-like-lakes.png>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA\</em\>*

## Alien Lake District

By analyzing data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft's last flyby in 2017, scientists found that Saturn's largest moon Titan is covered with lakes similar to those found on Earth.

Precipitation refills some of the lakes once they drain over time, just like on Earth, confirming a long-standing theory about the moon's geology. But there's one obvious difference from Earth: Titan's lakes are filled with liquid hydrocarbons, including methane and ethane — very much unlike the fresh water found in Lake Michigan.

## Titan Mesas

The new information about deep, miles-across lakes provides important insight into the nature of Titan's geology — and how its north pole compares to its southern hemisphere.

"It is as if you looked down on the Earth's North Pole and could see that North America had completely different geologic setting for bodies of liquid than Asia does," Jonathan Lunine, co-author of [the paper](<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-019-0714-2>) published in *Nature Astronomy* today, said in [a statement](<https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7378>).

## A Last Hurrah

The scientists' theory: Titan's lakes formed very much in a similar way that water dissolves limestone bedrock — except that chemicals dissolve a bedrock of ice and "solid organics."

"This was Cassini's last hurrah at Titan, and it really was a feat," Lunine said in the statement.

**READ MORE:** [NASA's Cassini Reveals Surprises with Titan's Lakes](<https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7378>) \[*Jet Propulsion Lab*\]

**More on Titan:** *[NASA Engineer: Humans Should Consider Settling Saturn's Moon Titan](<https://futurism.com/nasa-engineer-humans-settling-titan>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)