Titan's Vanishing 'Magic Island' is Back Again

After nearly a year, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has spotted what looks like an island in the middle of Titan's largest hydrocarbon sea once more. Despite the fact that Cassini engineers know where to look, the island seems to show itself only sporadically, its mysterious vanishing act earning it the name "Magic Island."

The Magic Island was first noticed in a Cassini flyby back in July 2013. It appeared as a bright splotch floating in the Ligeia Mare - Titan's second largest body of the methane and ethane liquid that make up its seas. Sixteen days later, during a second pass, the spacecraft showed that the "island" had vanished.

Scientists studying this unusual phenomenon have previously come up with a number of theories that could explain its strange comings and goings. A study published last June suggests that the "island" is actually nothing more than strange waves, rising bubbles, or suspended solids temporarily resting on the Ligeia Mare's surface.

Now, for the first time in 11 months, the Magic Island is back, giving researchers another chance to compare and contrast its other appearances.

"Science loves a mystery, and with this enigmatic feature, we have a thrilling example of ongoing change on Titan," Stephen Wall, the deputy leader of Cassini's radar team, said in a recent statement. "We're hopeful that we'll be able to continue watching the changes unfold and gain insights about what's going on in that alien sea."

On August 21, 2014, Wall and his team noticed that the island had returned, and more interestingly still, they are not utterly confident that the feature is not an artifact or flaw in Cassini observation data. They were also able to conclude that it is not a result from evaporation of the Ligeia Mare, as the sea's coasts have not noticeably changed with the appearance of the island.

Still, with a fluctuating shape and no tie to sea levels, it remains very unlikely that the Magic Island is actually an island at all. Instead, the Cassini team suggests that initial theories concerning bubbles or unidentified floating matter are far more likely.