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Saturn’s Moon Titan Has Salty Sea
americanlivewire.com ^ | Will Phoenix

Posted on 07/05/2014 9:53:03 PM PDT by BenLurkin

According to new findings just published in this week’s edition of the journal Icarus, NASA’s Cassini Mission has brought to light new evidence of an actual ocean inside Titan, Saturn’s biggest moon. Furthermore, the ocean in question might even be as salt-laden as Earth’s Dead Sea.

This is but the latest discovery resulting from an analysis of data on topography and gravity gathered during the past decade. Scientists discovered that an extremely high density was needed for the surface ocean of Titan to explain the information on the gravity. This means that Titan’s ocean has to be a very “salty brine of water mixed with dissolved salts” like potassium, sodium or sulphur. The team also learned that density of Titan’s outer ice shell differs from spot to spot. This indicates that the shell is currently freezing solid.

Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist, concluded: “Titan continues to prove itself an endlessly fascinating world. With our long-lived Cassini spacecraft, we’re unlocking new mysteries as fast as we solve old ones.”

(Excerpt) Read more at americanlivewire.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: cassini; catastrophism; nasa; saturn; titan
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1 posted on 07/05/2014 9:53:03 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin
If this theory holds up, and no inlet of freshwater is found feeding into it... ...the odds of finding life on Titan just went way down.

(On the other hand, if reliable inlets of fresh water can be found, then the choice of locations where a probe should be sent just got considerably simplified....)

2 posted on 07/05/2014 10:07:24 PM PDT by Yossarian
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To: Yossarian

3 posted on 07/05/2014 10:13:29 PM PDT by struggle
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To: Yossarian

Life doesn’t have to be like us to be life. I’m sure life will find a way to breathe salt water.


4 posted on 07/05/2014 10:13:50 PM PDT by wastedyears (I'm a pessimist, I say plenty of negative things. Consider it a warning of sorts.)
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To: wastedyears; struggle

...I’m talking abut water as briny as the Dead Sea... That’s way different than normal salt water in Earth’s Oceans....


5 posted on 07/05/2014 10:15:22 PM PDT by Yossarian
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To: Yossarian

Because we all know life can’t adapt to adverse conditions.


6 posted on 07/05/2014 10:20:16 PM PDT by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is it is the only answer.)
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To: Yossarian

Who’s to say it can’t happen?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsiders_(Known_Space)

Listening to the audiobooks, they were creatures made out of liquid hydrogen, who feed off artificial or natural sunlight, from what I remember.


7 posted on 07/05/2014 10:23:47 PM PDT by wastedyears (I'm a pessimist, I say plenty of negative things. Consider it a warning of sorts.)
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The Origin of the Oceans
http://www.varchive.org/itb/ecocean.htm


8 posted on 07/05/2014 10:33:19 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: 75thOVI; agrace; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aragorn; aristotleman; Avoiding_Sulla; ...
Thanks BenLurkin.

9 posted on 07/05/2014 10:33:32 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: brytlea; cripplecreek; decimon; bigheadfred; KoRn; Grammy; steelyourfaith; Mmogamer; dayglored; ...

Thanks BenLurkin. Extra to APoD.


10 posted on 07/05/2014 10:34:05 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Lurker
I'm just saying it's much harder, that's all.

And, I'm basing my statement on what has been seen with searches for life on the Dead Sea.

I wish people wouldn't stuff words into my mouth that I haven't said...

11 posted on 07/05/2014 10:36:53 PM PDT by Yossarian
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To: BenLurkin
We can't even explain the origin of life on earth.

The problem with explaining the origin of life is, how did self-replicating molecules arise? DNA is very complex. Even the simplest life forms require some such complex molecules. But how could such complexity have arisen? There must have some intermediate forms, but we don't know what it was.

Once you get complex self-reproducing molecules, though, natural selection can do the rest in terms of making increasingly complex life forms.

Perhaps the intermediaries to get to DNA no longer exist. It would be like if we built sentient machines and then we died out. Later, the machines might wonder how they originated. The intermediate step, us, would be gone.

12 posted on 07/05/2014 10:56:30 PM PDT by MUDDOG
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To: Yossarian

Define “harder”.


13 posted on 07/05/2014 10:59:55 PM PDT by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is it is the only answer.)
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To: Yossarian
If this theory holds up, and no inlet of freshwater is found feeding into it... ...the odds of finding life on Titan just went way down.

And the basis for this bold assertion is...?

Regards,

14 posted on 07/05/2014 11:41:36 PM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: alexander_busek
And the basis for this bold assertion is...?

The results from searching for life in the Dead Sea, which Titan's oceans are being compared to in this article.

Really, people, it's called the "Dead Sea" NOT because life finds it easy in there! Life can be found, but only in very particular areas where the water chemistry is different that what is found in the vast majority of it....

15 posted on 07/05/2014 11:59:19 PM PDT by Yossarian
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To: MUDDOG
Inside each molecule there is something that makes it tick, and something inside that,
and something inside that, and on and on and on. The deeper we look for the end
the more we find and the longer we have to wait for technology to catch up
so that we can see more. And if we find the deepest hidden secret behind the exact center
of each molecule, there's something that makes it tick too. God.
16 posted on 07/06/2014 12:07:06 AM PDT by MaxMax (Pay Attention and you'll be pissed off too! FIRE BOEHNER, NOW!)
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To: MaxMax
It's an age-old question: How far down does it go? There was a Daredevil comic in the mid-'60s where one of his enemies got hit by a shrinking ray and kept getting smaller and smaller until *poof* he was gone.

That stuck with me.

17 posted on 07/06/2014 12:17:47 AM PDT by MUDDOG
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To: Yossarian
Really, people, it's called the "Dead Sea" NOT because life finds it easy in there! Life can be found, but only in very particular areas where the water chemistry is different that what is found in the vast majority of it....

The Dead Sea is home to billions of organisms. It is literally teaming with life.

In Titan's sea, there may also be "very particular areas."

Regards,

18 posted on 07/06/2014 12:21:31 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: MUDDOG
It's an age-old question: How far down does it go?

Take a number and divide it by two. Take that number and divide it by two. Continue dividing by two. Call me when you get to the end, lol.

What's the old indian saying? It's turtles all the way down.

19 posted on 07/06/2014 12:32:04 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: BenLurkin

We need a probe that can scoop up samples and bring them back.


20 posted on 07/06/2014 3:07:34 AM PDT by samtheman
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