Saturn Moon Titan Has a 'Hot Cross Bun' in NASA Photo NASA's
Cassini spacecraft obtained this image of a feature shaped like
a hot cross bun in the northern region of Titan (left) that
bears a striking resemblance to a similar feature on Venus
(right). A NASA spacecraft has spied some unusual terrain on
Saturn's moon Titan — a giant cracked mound that resembles a
cosmic hot cross bun, scientists say. NASA's Cassini probe
captured the new radar images of Titan of the 40-mile-long (70
kilometer-long) feature during a May 22 flyby. Researchers
believe baking-hot plumes of magma might have lifted and
fractured Titan's surface, creating the cross-shaped fissures,
much like steam causes bread in the oven to rise and crack.
Rosaly Lopes, a Cassini scientist based at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., said astronomers have never before
seen this type of feature on Titan. "The 'bun' may be the result
of what is known on Earth as a laccolith, an intrusion formed by
magma pushing up from below," Lopes e