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Space

Perfectly straight ridges may cover the poles of Saturn’s moon Titan

Saturn’s moon Titan may have hundreds of strange ridges called yardangs that could teach us how the icy moon’s geology and conditions vary across its surface

By Leah Crane

15 March 2024

Landforms called yardangs can form on Earth – and they might also be present on Saturn’s moon Titan

Ma Mingyan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images

Saturn’s moon Titan may have strange features called yardangs all over its polar regions. Yardangs are long, perfectly straight ridges that form when erosion wears away strips of soft ground, and they could help us understand Titan’s complex geology.

Titan’s upper latitudes are home to hundreds of strange lines that planetary scientists have named bright linear features. Those could be either sand dunes, which astronomers have already observed near Titan’s equator,…

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