On Saturn's moon discovered River

interplanetary spacecraft Cassini made an important discovery. It is the first time in the history of the survey conducted hydraulic (or rather, "gidrokarbosistemy"), located in the world. In the view of the radar hit the river more than 320 km in length, located on Saturn's moon Titan. Survey conducted on September 26 revealed fluid-filled riverbed with meanders. This river flows in the direction of the satellite's north pole and into the sea Kraken, similar in size to the Caspian Sea in the Zemle.

Titan is the only one known to us the cosmic body other than Earth, where there is always a fluid and its circulation in nature. However, unlike our planet Saturn in rivers, instead of water flowing hydrocarbons, preferably methane and ethane. It is assumed that this is made possible due to the large amount of radioactive isotope in the nucleus Titan decay which creates sufficient heat to maintain the hydrocarbons in liquid state. As explained by an employee of the Control Center Cassini Janie Radbek from Brigham Young University, the discovery of the river provides valuable information not only about the circulation of the liquid, but also on the geological structure of Titan, because the shape of the channel indicates that it was formed on the site of a tectonic fault. In addition, the presence of liquid, even if the hydrocarbon does not exclude the existence of the satellite primitive forms of life that remain to be explored.

Source: www.ridus.ru/news/58517/