Perched atop a pair of active shutter glasses are a couple of miniature LCD projectors, which bounce images from a connected computer onto a special reflective surface at a 120Hz refresh rate.

ENGADGET

Though that also makes it more flexible (and makes the ability to grind and polish the glass to create a light-capturing parabolic surface without actually breaking the thing all the more impressive), this flexibility can be exploited to keep the reflective surface in shape.

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The result is a thin reflective layer that floats on the surface of the oil.

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Where the ice vanishes entirely, the surface loses its usual highly reflective whiteness - which sends most solar radiation back into space - and is replaced by darker waters instead which absorb more heat.

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After analysing an unusual but temporary increase in Titan's brightness, Dr Griffith concluded that the most likely explanation was the presence of a thick, reflective cloud, covering roughly 9% of the part of Titan's surface then visible from earth.

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