Posted on 12/18/2009 3:11:00 PM PST by dragnet2
A photo from Cassini shows sunlight reflecting from a giant lake of methane on the northern half of Saturn's moon Titan.
(CNN) -- NASA scientists revealed Friday a first-of-its-kind image from space showing reflecting sunlight from a lake on Saturn's largest moon, Titan.
It's the first visual "smoking gun" evidence of liquid on the northern hemisphere of the moon, scientists said, and the first-ever photo from another world showing a "specular reflection" -- which is reflection from a liquid surface.
Jaumann said he was surprised when he first saw the photos transmitting from Cassini, orbiting Saturn about a billion miles from Earth.
"It was great because if you look at photos of planets, you mostly see nothing is happening. But in two hours we saw a glint of light getting brighter."
Titan's similarities to Earth have attracted NASA's attention for decades. It's the only body besides our own in the solar system that is believed to have liquid on its surface. Like Earth, Titan has an atmosphere which is mostly nitrogen.
Experts believe the presence of liquid on a planet or moon improves the chances that some kind of life could develop there.
The project is based out of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
bump
almost the color of beer
That’s what happens when you ignore greenhouse gasses like methane. It creates lakes. People die. Oceans . . . well, you know the story.
Prove it’s not a bottle top reflection....
Maybe it’s Bourbon!
Where’s the single malt ocean?
If you cock your head to the left, squint your eyes and hold your breath for 2 minutes, you should be able to see the image of Obama near the top of the photo.
Actually, I think that is a very amazing photo.
I know an old fashioned Billiard Ball when I see one...
Man.... if someone lit a match up there it would blow the place up!
“Where’s the single malt ocean?:
The Big Rock Candy Mountain?
Couldn’t they focus the camera just a little better?
Actually, you could detonate a nuclear weapon, nothing would happen. No oxygen.
Almost appears as a ring with a gem stone at the top.
Yep - A big wet nasty cow fart. POW
in the big rock candy mountains, you never change your socks,
and the little streams of alcohol, come a tricklin' down the rocks.
The brakemen have to tip their hats, and the railroad bulls are blind,
There's a lake of stew and a whisky too,
you can paddle all around 'em in a big canoe,
in the big rock candy mountains.
The glint appears to be coming from the southern edge of a lake called Kraken Mare — a massive body of methane that covers about 150,000 square miles (400,000 square kilometers). That’s larger than the Caspian Sea, which is the largest lake on Earth.
I know! There must be too many cows grazing the Titan pastures for meat-eating infidels! Quick, alert those in Copenhagen!
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