The possibility remained that liquid ethane and methane might be found on Titan's polar regions, where they were expected to be abundant and stable.

On a much smaller scale, in scientific research, liquid ethane is used to vitrify water-rich samples for electron microscopy (cryo-electron microscopy).

A thin film of water, quickly immersed in liquid ethane at 150 C or colder, freezes too quickly for water to crystallize.

Direct contact with liquid ethane can result in severe frostbite.

Further analysis of infrared spectroscopic data presented in July 2008 provided stronger evidence for the presence of liquid ethane in Ontario Lacus.

Photographs and spectroscopic analysis by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft show liquid ethane on the surface, which is thought to be mixed with liquid methane.

A very large taloned beast afloat in a pool of high-pressure liquid ethane, for instance, might have scratched the walls in an attempt to burrow out.

It was liquid ethane.

Scientists still believed that liquid ethane and methane would be found near Titan's poles, where they expected to find lots of liquid.

If scientific speculation is correct, the probe, equipped with a parachute, will drift down slowly to an ocean of liquid ethane and methane.