Astronomers Spot Sea At Least 1,000-Feet Deep on Saturn's Moon Titan

Even though NASA's Cassini spacecraft ended its mission to Saturn just over three years ago, scientists and astronomers are still sifting through the mounds of data the craft was able to transmit prior to its fatal descent into the Saturnian atmosphere. Astronomers from Cornell University's Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science recently published "The Bathymetry of Moray Sinus at Titan's Kraken Mare," a journal entry studying the largest body of water on Saturn's largest moon Titan.

Ahem, you know — the fictional home of Thanos.

According to the journal, Kraken Mare — which earned its excellent name in 2008 — is upwards of 1,000 feet deep at some points. In fact, as the astronomers suggest the lake could be much deeper, except Cassini wasn't able to provide additional data beyond that benchmark.

"The depth and composition of each of Titan's seas had already been measured, except for Titan's largest sea, Kraken Mare – which not only has a great name, but also contains about 80% of the moon's surface liquids," Cornell's Valerio Poggiali says in the journal. Poggiali serves as the lead author for the piece.

While the depth isn't anything all that record-breaking — Russia's Lake Baikal is over 5,000 feet deep — the professionals involved in the study think it's still deep enough that researchers would be able drop a robotic submarine into it someday. Its width is much more admirable, reportedly larger than all five of America's Great Lakes combined.

The journal also notes Kraken Mare is filled with a liquid ethane/methane mixture.

"In this context to understand the depth and composition of Kraken Mare and the Moray Sinus is important because this enables a more precise assessment on Titan's methane hydrology. Still, we have to solve many mysteries," Poggiali added.

He concluded, "Thanks to our measurements scientists can now infer the density of the liquid with higher precision, and consequently better calibrate the sonar aboard the vessel and understand the sea's directional flows."