(CNN) Saturn's moon Titan is a curiosity in our solar system, the only other body besides Earth to host liquid water on its surface. And it's the only moon in our solar system that has an atmosphere. But it's not exactly inviting. The lakes on the icy moon are filled with liquid ethane and methane.

Titan was investigated by NASA's Cassini spacecraft before its mission ended in 2017. A recent study of radar data gathered by Cassini as it observed Titan suggests how the lakes on Titan may have formed in the first place. The study published this week in the journal Nature Geosciences

Some of the lakes on Titan are steeply rimmed, with the edges reaching heights of hundreds of feet.

This is an artist's concept of a lake at the north pole of Saturn's moon Titan.

Previously, researchers believed that the liquid methane created its own space on the surface by eroding ice and organic compound bedrock, allowing those areas to fill up. There's an analog to this on Earth when water dissolves limestone. These form karstic lakes.

But images from the Cassini flyby didn't match up with this model for the smaller lakes with steep rims on Titan's surface that jet way beyond sea level.

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