[inquest]

Thanks for the fill-in. I noted that the people in the article didn't think this was water ice, and one of them suggested it was nitrogen ice breaking through the surface. Is Titan so cold that solid nitrogen could be considered "hot"? I mean, it has methane gas in its atmosphere, right?

[ElkGroveDan]

Is Titan so cold that solid nitrogen could be considered "hot"? I mean, it has methane gas in its atmosphere, right?

Yes, nitrogen could flow like a liquid. I should have clarified that the temperature of -250 is Celsius, which is like -420 F.

As for methane being a gas in the atmosphere and a liquid on the surface, it can indeed occur that way. Consider that here on Earth water does the same (water on the ground, vapor in the air, and solid in various places at various times). It's all about density, pressure, local temperature and volume which vary based on where they are on the planet and in its atmosphere, and other conditions.