Titan Strikes Again

Taipei Times - archives: "Titan probe sends back evidence of methane rainfall

AFP , PARIS
Sunday, Jan 23, 2005,Page 6


The European robot lab Huygens found liquid methane on the Saturn satellite Titan, a chemical that seems to have shaped the moon's peculiar landscape and weather system, scientists said Friday in their first detailed assessment of the probe's mission.

'We've got a flammable world. It's quite extraordinary,' said University of Honolulu researcher Toby Owen, referring to methane's combustibility with air on Earth.

'There is liquid on Titan. It has been raining not long ago, there is liquid methane,' said Jean-Pierre Lebreton, director of the Huygens mission at the European Space Agency (ESA).

'There are truly remarkable processes at work on Titan's surface,' he said."