Scientists said that they have found the first widespread evidence of giant hydrocarbon lakes on the surface of Saturn's planet-size moon Titan. The cluster of hydrocarbon lakes was spotted near Titan's frigid north pole during a weekend flyby by the international Cassini spacecraft, which flew within 950 kilometres of the moon. Researchers counted about a dozen lakes ranging from 10 kilometres to 100 kilometres wide. Some lakes, which appeared as dark patches in radar images, were connected by channels while others had tributaries flowing into them. Several were dried up, but the ones that contained liquid were most likely a mix of methane and ethane. "It was a real potpourri,' said Cassini scientist Jonathan Lunine of the University of Arizona.