Saturn's moon Titan may be known for its methane lakes, but it also has "magic" islands — mysterious bright spots atop the lakes that come and go, with no known explanation. However, a new study, published Jan. 4 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, proposes a surprisingly simple explanation for the magic islands: They're floating chunks of frozen organic material.
"I wanted to investigate whether the magic islands could actually be organics floating on the surface, like pumice that can float on water here on Earth before finally sinking," study lead author Xinting Yu, a planetary scientist at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said in a statement.
