Posted on 01/14/2005 7:16:29 PM PST by neverdem
I guess smell depends on what kind of methane you're talking about and who or what's producing it.
Welcome to FR
Not necessarily. On Earth methane does persist in the atmosphere due to the oxidizing atmosphere. So any methane in the Earth's atmosphere is fairly recent (less than a few thousand years) and most likely of biological origin. The atmosphere of Titan is reducing, so the methane probably dates to the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion year ago. It is thought that the Earth originally had a reducing atmosphere, but photosynthetic algae over billions of years gradually released enough oxygen to cause it to be oxidizing.
LOL. I agree.
I'd rather we just gaze at the stars as our half naked forebears did, and remain ignorant of this troublesome space-knowledge.
There isn't enough knowledge on earth to complicate human existence--they have to go flying around the universe for more?
I'd rather we worship the sun and moon as gods, making the usual animal sacrifices to them.
(I am not being a wise-guy; I'm serious.)
Oh Boy LNG. Now we just need some giant space tankers and we've solved all our fuel requirements for the next two million years. And we don't even have to liquify it!
May as well toss our hat in the ring too.
The fact that Titan has a hydrocarbon atmosphere should point out the obvious to everyone here: Hydrocarbons (i.e. petrochemicals) DO NOT come from "fossils". They are geochemical in nature, not dependent upon former biological activity. Earth is going to continue making oil, as long as the tectonic plates continue to subduct, and as long as we have a molten core.
To continue to charge exorbitant prices for a product because "we're going to run out of it someday" is now rendered total bullshit. Let's see the price reflect reality now, and one less piece of the sky is falling.
They're also talking about blimps. They can stay up for months, or that's the idea, at least.
"Did Galileo pray?"
Incredible!
You sound like the one to ask, but I thought I heard the liquid that would be there would be ETHANE. Did I hear wrong?
Nope, you didn't hear wrong. Any liquid present would likely be Ethane according to Huygens project scientists.
Thank you! I was just beginning to understand what all the project scientsts were talking about. That doesn't happen very often with me, so I can go back to being pleased with myself. ?:}
I've often thought that one of the greatest scenes possible would be a view of Saturn in the night sky of one of it's moons.
I wonder if they could or would attempt it?
As it is...these pictures are breathtaking!
Thanks for the post.
It almost looks likes there's liquid flowing by those rocks - but the resolution is poor.
Considering the resolution.............EVERYTHING is rounded.
Resolution can't hide that.
Just suggestion thaT SOMETHING liquid rounded out EVERYTHING!
I get the feeling these are low-resolution first look data products - they are keeping the full data close to the vest until the next press con.
Does this mean there are cows on Titan?
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