NASA's Cassini spacecraft has detected propylene, a chemical
used to make food-storage containers, car bumpers and other consumer products,
on Saturn's moon Titan.
This is the first definitive detection of the plastic
ingredient on any moon or planet, other than Earth.
A small amount of propylene was identified in Titan's lower
atmosphere by Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS). This instrument
measures the infrared light, or heat radiation, emitted from Saturn and its
moons in much the same way our hands feel the warmth of a fire.