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Cold Moon, Cool Asteroid

It was a busy week in outer space. Scientists announced new findings about Titan, one of Saturn's many moons. Earlier this year, a probe parachuted to the surface of the moon to collect data. Scientists are still analyzing the results, but what they have found so far is pretty amazing.

"It's a very strange fantasy world made of ice, with things like gasoline and tar that make up the rivers and the lake beds," said Jonathan Lunine of the University of Arizona. Titan also has volcanoes that spew liquid ammonia. And, oh yes, it's very cold--nearly 300?F below zero!

Just a few days earlier, Japanese scientists reported that their space probe had collected a sample from an asteroid, one of the small chunks of space debris that orbit the sun 200 million to 300 million miles from Earth. Scientists hope the sample will tell them what the solar system was made of when it formed nearly 5 billion years ago.

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