Saturn moon Titan may harbour an ocean SCIENTISTS have reported on the strongest sign yet that Saturn's giant moon may have a salty ocean beneath its chilly surface. If confirmed, it would catapult Titan into an elite class of solar system moons harbouring water, an essential ingredient for life. Titan boasts methane-filled seas at the poles and a possible lake near the equator. And it's long been speculated Titan contains a hidden liquid layer, based on mathematical modelling and electric field measurements made by the Huygens spacecraft that landed on the surface in 2005. The latest evidence is still indirect, but outside scientists said it's probably the best that can be obtained short of sending a spacecraft to drill into the surface. The research looks convincing, said Gabriel Tobie of France's University of Nantes. "If the analysis is correct, this is a very important finding," Mr Tobie said. The finding by an international team of researchers was released by the journal, Science. The scientists pored over data from the orbiting Cassini spacecraft, which flew by Titan half a dozen times between 2006 and last year and took gravity measurements for a glimpse of its interior. They found Titan got squeezed and stretched depending on its orbit around Saturn, suggesting the presence of a buried ocean. If Titan were solid rock and ice, such deformations would not occur. "Titan is quite squishy," said Jonathan Lunine of Cornell University, part of the research team. Previous estimates suggested the ocean could be 48 to 99km deep with traces of ammonia. Titan is one of the few worlds in the solar system with a significant atmosphere, and an underground ocean could help explain how Titan replenishes methane in its hazy atmosphere. Its body of water would also make Titan an attractive place to study whether it could support microbial life.