Posted on 02/13/2008 11:10:35 AM PST by Brian S. Fitzgerald
Saturn's orange moon Titan has hundreds of times more liquid hydrocarbons than all the known oil and natural gas reserves on Earth, according to new Cassini data. The hydrocarbons rain from the sky, collecting in vast deposits that form lakes and dunes.
The new findings from the study led by Ralph Lorenz, Cassini radar team member from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, USA, are reported in the 29 January 2008 issue of the Geophysical Research Letters.
"Titan is just covered in carbon-bearing material--it's a giant factory of organic chemicals," said Lorenz. "This vast carbon inventory is an important window into the geology and climate history of Titan."
At a balmy minus 179o C , Titan is a far cry from Earth. Instead of water, liquid hydrocarbons in the form of methane and ethane are present on the moon's surface, and tholins probably make up its dunes. The term 'tholins' was coined by Carl Sagan in 1979 to describe the complex organic molecules at the heart of prebiotic chemistry.
Cassini has mapped about 20% of Titan's surface with radar. Several hundred lakes and seas have been observed, with each of several dozen estimated to contain more hydrocarbon liquid than Earth's oil and gas reserves. The dark dunes that run along the equator contain a volume of organics several hundred times larger than Earth's coal reserves.
Proven reserves of natural gas on Earth total 130 thousand million tons, enough to provide 300 times the amount of energy the entire United States uses annually for residential heating, cooling and lighting. Dozens of Titan's lakes individually have the equivalent of at least this much energy in the form of methane and ethane.
"This global estimate is based mostly on views of the lakes in the northern polar regions. We have assumed the south might be similar, but we really don't yet know how much liquid is there," said Lorenz. Cassini's radar has observed the south polar region only once, and only two small lakes were visible. Future observations of that area are planned during Cassini's proposed extended mission.
Scientists estimated Titan's lake depth by making some general assumptions based on lakes on Earth. They took the average area and depth of lakes on Earth, taking into account the nearby surroundings, like mountains. On Earth, the lake depth is often 10 times less than the height of nearby terrain.
"We also know that some lakes are more than 10 m or so deep because they appear literally pitch-black to the radar. If they were shallow we'd see the bottom, and we don't," said Lorenz.
The question of how much liquid is on the surface is an important one because methane is a strong greenhouse gas on Titan as well as on Earth, but there is much more of it on Titan. If all the observed liquid on Titan is methane, it would only last a few million years, because as methane escapes into Titan's atmosphere, it breaks down and escapes into space. If the methane were to run out, Titan could become much colder. Scientists believe that methane might be supplied to the atmosphere by venting from the interior in cryovolcanic eruptions. If so, the amount of methane, and the temperature on Titan, may have fluctuated dramatically in Titan's past.
"We are carbon-based life, and understanding how far along the chain of complexity towards life that chemistry can go in an environment like Titan will be important in understanding the origins of life throughout the universe," added Lorenz.
Cassini's next radar flyby of Titan is on 22 February 2008, when the radar instrument will observe the landing site of ESA's Huygens probe.
We could also consider shrinking everyone on earth to reduce our energy usage.
I find your post...enlightening!
In particular, the carbon bonds are covalent rather than ionic.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
we have just discovered our economic reason to go deep into space.
Maybe in a hundred years or so, but no time soon.
No thanks, I’ve had two unpleasant dreams involving celestial bodies dangerously close to the planet I was living on.
If you’d like, I can continue.
Any compound with the carbon atom in it is considered an "organic" compound. This predates the current idiotic usage of the work organic meaning "grown in raw monkey sh!t."
@$@#$
You beat me !
quote:
“There must have been a sh** load of dinosaurs and ancient plant life on Titan to have turned into all those hydrocarbons.... “
Zactly !!
OK, lemmesee (sound of calculator furiously clicking) - I figure that’s just about a 20 million gallon drive assuming I don’t get a headwind in space. Piece of cake if I could just figure out where I’d pull over to pee.
I had a dream that the sun went out once. I also had a dream about a busty nurse in a Boy Scout camp.
True enough.
How about -— just get it in a big blob and lob on the correct trajectory to be captured -— who needs a tanker?
It’ll stick to itself fine.
More importantly, this is a great source of fuel for colonization of the rest of the solar system, once the muzzies make the Earth unihabitable with whatever nukes they set off.
Organic, in chemistry means it has carbon atoms in it.......In food it means it has S%$T in t.........
Scary about the sun. I’d probably let myself waste away.
But nice about the nurse at the Boy Scout camp.
It was particularly nice since I was a Boy Scout at the time.
Excellent
From WIKI a year ago (apparently, this is a new concept spurred by the greenhouse effect on scientists trying desperately to prove...-...something...)
“A cryovolcano is, literally, an icy volcano. Cryovolcanoes form on icy moons, and possibly on other low-temperature astronomical objects (e.g., Kuiper belt objects). Rather than molten rock, these volcanoes erupt volatiles such as water, ammonia or methane.[1] Collectively referred to as cryomagma or ice-volcanic melt[1], these substances are usually liquids and form plumes, but can also be in vapour form. After eruption cryomagma condenses to a solid form when exposed to the very low surrounding temperature. Some scientists[attribution needed] speculate that the cryovolcanoes on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, may harbor extraterrestrial life.
The energy required to melt ices and produce cryovolcanoes usually comes from tidal friction. It has also been suggested that translucent deposits of frozen materials could create a sub-surface greenhouse effect that would accumulate the required heat.
It is hypothesised that the Kuiper belt object Quaoar has exhibited cryovolcanism in the past. In this case, the source of energy would be radioactive decay.”
Not here on Earth.
That and Pacman Jones...
Sarcasm mode on: Can the invasion of Titan be far off ! Sarcasm mode off: !
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