NASA scientists reveal that the ocean within Titan, Saturn's largest moon, may be as salty as the saltiest body of water on Earth-- the Dead Sea.

Findings based on gravity and topography data collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its flybys of Titan for the past 10 years indicate that the moon's ocean is relatively dense.

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Published in the most recent edition of the U.S. journal Icarus, researchers used the Cassini data to create an improved model structure of Titan in the study which displays its icy shell and the ocean beneath it.

Titan is the largest of the 62 moons of Saturn. Larger than the planet Mercury, it is believed to be the only 'natural satellite' known to have dense atmosphere and the only celestial body other than Earth to bear clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid can be located.

According to NASA, the density indicated for this brine ocean would be compared to that of the saltiest bodies of water on Earth and most likely contains a large portion of sulfur, sodium and potassium.

According to the paper's lead author, Giuseppe Mitri of the University of Nantes in France, Titan's ocean is extremely salty ocean by Earth standards.

Mitri adds that this discovery may alter the way we think about the possibility of living on the moon at present, though circumstances may have been entirely different in the past.

Additional findings confirm previous indications that the moon's icy shell is rigid and is in the process of freezing solid which may have important implications for the habitability of Titan's ocean since it would limit the ability of materials to exchange between the surface and the ocean.

Another down side to the icy shell are the outgassing of methane into the moon's atmosphere which tend to happen at scattered "hot spots"-much like the hot spot that gave birth to the Hawaiian Island chain.

TagsSaturn, TItan, NASA, Icarus, salt, Dead Sea