NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has been monitoring the evolution of a mysterious island that appears to be floating in the alien sea of Saturn’s moon Titan. The unidentified feature covers an area as large as Washington D.C. and has risen and sunk into the hydrocarbon sea at least twice since it was first spotted in July 2013.
Scientists believe the “magic island” could most likely be caused by massive gas bubbles, giant surface waves, or the formation of solid “land” that is dependent on Titan’s seasons, but they have not ruled out that “perhaps something more exotic” could be at work.
Titan is considered one of the most “earth-like” worlds discovered, and some scientists believe that the sea comprised of methane and ethane could sustain early forms of life.However, “There’s no reason to suspect this is a signal for biology,” Jason Hofgartner, a planetary scientist at Cornell University and one of the researchers involved in the mission, told NBC News. “But in general, more energetic processes may enhance the suitability for life on Titan.”