SUMMARY: Scientists have found what looks like a volcano on the surface of Titan, which could contribute to the methane in the moon's atmosphere. NASA's Cassini spacecraft imaged the area in infrared during a flyby last year, the region seems to show an "ice volcano" dome. The volcano looks to be about 30 km (19 miles) across, and appears to be built up from overlapping flows. At its centre is a feature that clearly looks like a volcano caldera. Future Cassini flybys will help scientists understand if the moon has enough tidal energy to generate volcanoes like this.


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At the temperatures in operation there, the "heat source" doesn't have to be generating an awful lot of heat to cause a methane release. This isn't necessarily something that's melting silica-based rock minerals.