NASA finds flooded canyons on Saturn’s moon

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has found deep, steep-sided canyons on Saturn's moon Titan that are flooded with liquid hydrocarbons. 
•    The finding represents the first direct evidence of the presence of liquid-filled channels on Titan, as well as the first observation of canyons hundreds of meters deep.
•    A new paper in the journal Geophysical Research Letters describes how scientist’s analyzed Cassini data from a close pass the spacecraft made over Titan in May 2013. 
•    During the flyby, Cassini's radar instrument focused on channels that branch out from the large, northern sea Ligeia Mare.
•    The branching channels appear dark in radar images, much like Titan's methane-rich seas. 
•    This suggested to scientists that the channels might also be filled with liquid, but a direct detection had not been made until now. 
•    Previously it wasn't clear if the dark material was liquid or merely saturated sediment -- which at Titan's frigid temperatures would be made of ice, not rock.