Posted on 03/14/2007 8:27:30 AM PDT by dead
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - NASA's Cassini spacecraft has found evidence of huge seas -- one of them bigger than any of North America's Great Lakes -- on Saturn's largest moon, scientists said on Tuesday.
Scientists studying the images taken by the probe, which blasted off a decade ago, said the seas on Titan were likely filled with liquid methane or ethane and that the discovery reinforced previous theories.
"We've long hypothesized about oceans on Titan, and now with multiple instruments we have a first indication of seas that dwarf the lakes seen previously," said Jonathan Lunine, a University of Arizona scientist who works on Cassini data.
This composite image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft released by NASA on March 13,
2007, shows evidence of seas, likely filled with liquid methane or ethane, in the high
northern latitudes of Saturn's moon Titan. One such feature is larger than any of the
Great Lakes of North America and is about the same size as several seas on Earth.
(NASA/JPL/Handout./Reuters)
Scientists at the U.S. space agency said Cassini's radar instruments captured several very dark features near Titan's north pole. The largest measures at least 100,000 square km (39,000 square miles).
Titan is the second-largest moon in the solar system, after Jupiter's Ganymede, and is about 50 percent larger than the Earth's moon.
NASA said although there was no proof the seas contain liquid, their shape and dark appearance on radar indicates smoothness.
The liquid is probably methane or ethane because those compounds are abundant in clouds in Titan's atmosphere.
This radar image released by NASA Tuesday, March 13, 2007, shows what scientists
believe to be sea-size bodies of liquid, shown in blue, on the surface of Saturn's
largest moon Titan. The discovery by the international Cassini spacecraft was
welcomed by researchers, who have long theorized that Titan possessed
hydrocarbon seas because of methane and other organic compounds in its thick,
largely nitrogen atmosphere. (AP Photo/NASA)
The scientists said the presence of the seas reinforced current thinking that Titan's surface must be resupplying methane to its atmosphere.
Because of the new images, the Cassini mission team is repositioning the spacecraft's radar instruments during a May fly-by so it can pass directly over the dark areas seen by the cameras.
Cassini was launched in October 1997 and entered into orbit around Saturn in July 2004. The mission is a project between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.
Cool.
Bush's fault?
you mean Titan is full of methane without farm animals? impossible....
ping
Oceans of natural gas lerger than Lake Superior.
So much fro the 'peak oil' theory.
I support drilling in ANWAR and on Titan.
Some college kid should design a space probe that can drop a lit match on Titan.
NYMEX crude oil 57.71 bbl. Natural gas 7.10 Mcf.
Temperature -31 here, which is better than -300 on Titan. Methane is a gas at -31.
There's not enough oxygen in the atmosphere there for the match to ignite.
This months Discover Magazine has a good article on this subject, fyi.
Looks like water to me.
I'm gonna go and get some lakefront property on TItan, set up a bait shop, rent tackle and paddle boats ....
Oh wait -- false color?
"Temperature -31 here, which is better than -300 on Titan. Methane is a gas at -31."
---
Well, thanks to you, now I have the thought of liquid farts in my mind.
...and it doesn't make a pretty picture.
There was a sci-fi story quite a while ago about some anglers who took their fishing gear everywhere, every moon and planet, dropped a hook into every body of water just to see what if anything they might bring up. Could be something swimming around in that liquid methane lake.
Here's a news item from NASA through spaceflightnow.com:
ISS module from Japan arrives at NASA for launch
NASA-KSC NEWS RELEASE
Posted: March 13, 2007
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - After traveling thousands of miles, a major component of the International Space Station is set to begin preparations for launch. The Experiment Logistics Module Pressurized Section for the Japanese Experiment Module arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida early Monday, March 12. The Japanese Experiment Module is composed of three segments and is known as Kibo, which means "hope" in Japanese.
Kibo is Japan's first human space facility and its primary contribution to the station. It will enhance the unique research capabilities of the orbiting complex by providing an additional environment in which astronauts can conduct science experiments. The Experiment Logistics Module Pressurized Section will serve as an on-orbit storage area for materials, tools and supplies. It can hold up to eight experiment racks and will attach to the top of another larger pressurized module.
The ship carrying the module departed Feb. 7 from Yokohama, Japan, for the United States. Kibo's various components will be assembled in space during the course of three shuttle missions. The first of those three missions, STS-123, will carry the Experiment Logistics Module Pressurized Section aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, targeted for launch in 2007.
Maybe they can use it to raise dates.
Module dates are my favorite.
Yeah, but what does it "do"?
Headline, France and Iran seal Earth/Titan Pipeline deal.
Amadinejhad vows, "I will turn Iran into a sea of liquid
meth."
The ISS supposedly was to do science. This is the major science module. There are some experiment bays already up there although we don't hear much about them.
This is what they have been working on aboard the ISS already to get ready for their module:
Bonner Ball Neutron Detector (BBND) [Mission completed]
Micro-Particles Capture and Space Environment Exposure Device (MPAC&SEED)[Mission completed]
High Definition Television Camera Experiment (HDTV)[Mission completed]
High-Quality Protein Crystallization Facility (GCF)
Oh, so it will "do" science?
Well, that's pretty general, don't ya think?
I can "do" science right here in my basement.
I want to buy me a muffle furnace, but I might
have to add a new breaker to the box for it.
Then I can do me some some "real" science.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.