Saturn's largest moon has dramatic weather, geological activity (Titan)

ap on Monterey Herald ^ | 11/30/05 | Angela Doland - ap

[NormsRevenge]

PARIS - Saturn's planet-size moon Titan has dramatic weather, with freezing temperatures, carbon- and nitrogen-rich clouds and possibly lightning, scientists said Wednesday, describing a world that may have looked like Earth before life developed.

The European Space Agency's probe landed on Titan in January, uncovering some mysteries of the methane-rich globe - the only moon in the solar system known to have a thick atmosphere. Scientists presented detailed results of months of study in the journal Nature and at a news conference in Paris.

Titan has long intrigued researchers because it is surrounded by a thick blanket of nitrogen and methane. Until recently, scientists believed the most likely explanation for the methane was the presence of a methane-rich sea of hydrocarbons.

The Huygens probe and its mother ship, Cassini, have offered evidence against that theory. The $3.3 billion Cassini-Huygens mission to explore Saturn and its moons was launched in 1997 from Cape Canaveral, a joint effort involving NASA, ESA and the Italian space agency.

Cassini is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

Titan's clouds are made from molecules that include carbon and nitrogen - compounds generated in photochemical smog and circulated by rain and the atmosphere, the researchers reported in Nature.

They said there was no reason to believe Titan's methane is a product of biological activity.

Yet more methane is appearing constantly and may burst from ice volcanos or fall as rain, researchers said, describing riverbed and drainage channels spotted during the craft's descent Jan. 14.

Scientists described the moon's freezing temperatures: 290 degrees below zero on the surface. The atmosphere has distinct layers and may offer evidence of lightning.

Titan's smoggy atmosphere may be similar to that of the primordial Earth, and scientists believe that studying it could provide clues to how life began.

The first results from the Huygens probe were released in January: Black-and-white photos showed a rugged terrain of ridges, peaks, vein-like channels and apparently dry lakebeds on the moon 740 million miles away.

ON THE NET

European Space Agency: http://www.esa.int

[NormsRevenge]

30 November 2005

Images from the DISR Side-Looking Imager and from the Medium Resolution Imager, acquired after landing, were merged to produce this image. The horizon’s position implies a pitch of the DISR, nose-upward, by 1-2° with no measurable roll. ‘Stones’ in the foreground are 10-15 cm in size, presumably made of water ice, and these lie on a darker, finer-grained substrate.

A region with a relatively low number of rocks lies between clusters of rocks in the foreground and the background and matches the general orientation of channel-like features in the panorama view from 1.2 km (3rd image in article). The scene evokes the possibility of a dry lakebed.

Credits: ESA/NASA/University of Arizona

[NormsRevenge]

More article/images


http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Results_from_Mars_Express_and_Huygens/SEM23TULWFE_1.html

[Bluegrass Conservative]

Saturn's largest moon has dramatic weather, geological activity (Titan)

Well, at least we'll be able to make small talk with the aliens when we meet. lol

[COBOL2Java]

Images from the DISR Side-Looking Imager and from the Medium Resolution Imager, acquired after landing, were merged to produce this image.

What a fantastic thing to ponder. We are indeed living in marvelous times. Thanks for the post!

[clee1]

Maybe we could get all the leftists and French (but I'm being redundant) to move there?

[COBOL2Java]

They said there was no reason to believe Titan's methane is a product of biological activity.

Well, that would rule out my 3-alarm chili.

(sorry, couldn't resist) :0)

[Brilliant]

"The scene evokes the possibility of a dry lakebed."


Actually, in the photo, it looks like the rocks are emersed in about 1" of liquid water, with several inches in the foreground. You can even see ripples in the "water." Of course, they don't have liquid water on Titan. Maybe liquid methane, or maybe just the poor graphics.

[George - the Other]

Great info ... I love science, that is real science ... I imagine Bush will be somehow blamed for this too :)

[cripplecreek]

Me: Mornin Zxaxnor.

Zxaxnor: Mornin Creek.

Me: beautiful day in'it?

Zxaxnor: Yep, only supposed to get up around -298 today.

Me: Sounds like a great day for you, the missus and 10 or 15 thousand of the larva to hit the beach down to methane lake.

[HOTTIEBOY]

[Brilliant]

Yeah, of course Bush is to blame. He's even affected the weather patterns on Titan.

[HOTTIEBOY]

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks!

[dead]

I don't mean to complain, but if you're going to bother sending a camera 800,000,000 miles from earth, couldn't you send a camera that takes really excellent color photographs?

[DoctorMichael]

Cool! Bump!

[GOP_1900AD]

Interesting implications vis a vis possible origins of hydrocarbons here on Earth.

[HOTTIEBOY]

The Huygens probe and its mother ship, Cassini are equipped with about a dozen optical cameras, not to mention various filtered radio cameras. The optical camera on Cassini is capable of 12,000,000pix resolution. 12 million.

[Vaquero]

Bush's fault.

[GOP_1900AD]

Looks more like sort of gravel to me. And note the apparent wind scouring of this possible sediment around the one "rock." If indeed it's gravel and not sand, that is one heck of a wind that made such scouring.

[dead]

The optical camera on Cassini is capable of 12,000,000pix resolution. 12 million.

I wasn’t referring to the Cassini craft. That has produced stunning images.

I was wondering why we only get Zapruderish images from the surface of Titan: