Cassini finds evidence of giant hydrocarbon lakes on moon Titan

AP - Bakersfield Californian ^ | 7/24/06 | Alicia Chang - ap

[NormsRevenge]

Scientists said Monday they have found the first widespread evidence of giant hydrocarbon lakes on the surface of Saturn's planet-size moon Titan.

The cluster of hydrocarbon lakes was spotted near Titan's frigid north pole during a weekend flyby by the international Cassini spacecraft, which flew within 590 miles of the moon.

Researchers counted about a dozen lakes ranging from 6 miles to 62 miles wide. Some lakes, which appeared as dark patches in radar images, were connected by channels while others had tributaries flowing into them. Several were dried up, but the ones that contained liquid were most likely a mix of methane and ethane.

"It was a real potpourri," said Cassini scientist Jonathan Lunine of the University of Arizona.

Titan is one of two moons in the solar system known to possess a significant atmosphere similar to primordial Earth. But scientists have long puzzled over the source of its hazy atmosphere rich in nitrogen and methane.

Scientists believe methane gas breaks up in Titan's atmosphere and forms smog clouds that then rain methane down to the surface. But the source of methane inside the moon, which is releasing the gas into the atmosphere is still unknown, Lunine said.

Last year, Cassini found what appeared to be a liquid hydrocarbon lake about the size of Lake Ontario on Titan's south pole. But the recent flyby marked the first time the spacecraft spied a multitude of lakes.

Cassini's next Titan encounter will be Sept. 7 when it will be 620 miles away.

Cassini, funded by NASA and the European and Italian space agencies, was launched in 1997 and took seven years to reach Saturn to explore the ringed planet and its numerous moons. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

Cassini's accompanying probe, Huygens, developed and controlled by the ESA, touched down on Titan in 2005.

[NormsRevenge]

On the Net:

Cassini mission:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm

[Texas Eagle]

Bush's fault?

[RightWingNilla]

Could be interesting...

[NormsRevenge]

Lakes on Titan
July 24, 2006

The Cassini spacecraft, using its radar system, has discovered very strong evidence for hydrocarbon lakes on Titan. Dark patches, which resemble terrestrial lakes, seem to be sprinkled all over the high latitudes surrounding Titan's north pole.

Scientists have speculated that liquid methane or ethane might form lakes on Titan, particularly near the somewhat colder polar regions. In the images, a variety of dark patches, some with channels leading in or out of them, appear. The channels have a shape that strongly implies they were carved by liquid. Some of the dark patches and connecting channels are completely black, that is, they reflect back essentially no radar signal, and hence must be extremely smooth. In some cases rims can be seen around the dark patches, suggesting deposits that might form as liquid evaporates.

The abundant methane in Titan's atmosphere is stable as a liquid under Titan conditions, as is its abundant chemical product, ethane, but liquid water is not. For all these reasons, scientists interpret the dark areas as lakes of liquid methane or ethane, making Titan the only body in the solar system besides Earth known to possess lakes. Because such lakes may wax and wane over time, and winds may alter the roughness of their surfaces. Repeat coverage of these areas should test whether indeed these are bodies of liquid.

These two radar images were acquired by the Cassini radar instrument in synthetic aperture mode on July 21, 2006. The top image centered near 80 degrees north, 92 degrees west measures about 420 kilometers by 150 kilometers (260 miles by 93 miles). The lower image centered near 78 degrees north, 18 degrees west measures about 475 kilometers by 150 kilometers (295 miles by 93 miles). Smallest details in this image are about 500 meters (1,640 feet) across.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and several European countries.

[FMBass]

I wonder what kinda screwy religion they have on Titan that’ll keep us from getting their oil.

[DannyTN]

Does this mean there is no lightening on Titan, or no Oxygen to sustain a fire?

[6SJ7]

Scientists believe methane gas breaks up in Titan's atmosphere and forms smog clouds that then rain methane down to the surface.

Please extinguish all smoking materials before disembarking onto the surface of Titan.

[GSlob]

OK. Award Halliburton the prospecting rights.

[clyde asbury]

bttt

[PatrickHenry]

Could be interesting...

Yeah. Gotta crank up the ping machine ...

[ASA Vet]

The LEL of methane is 5% while it's UEL is 15%.
Probably the Methane levels on Titan are way higher than 15%.
It's to "rich" to burn.

[PatrickHenry]

This is SETI related. Or Heinlein's Puppet Masters.

SciencePing

An elite subset of the Evolution list. See the list's explanation at my freeper homepage. Then FReepmail to be added or dropped.

[Dallas59]

[kAcknor]

Huh huh. Going to get just a little more difficult to continue the claim of "Fossil Fuels". Next thing you know they will discover the remains of the crater from the 'big one' that killed off the dinosaurs of Titan. ;)

[Doctor Stochastic]

So should the hydrocarbons be shipped raw or should a refinery be build on Titan?

[PatrickHenry]

So should the hydrocarbons be shipped raw or should a refinery be build on Titan?

I think a pipeline would be the most practical solution.

[hosepipe]

[ the 'big one' that killed off the dinosaurs of Titan. ]

LoL... must've been some evil beasts.... Hydro carbons being a natural occurance.... wonder if some research is being done to unlock the process.. how bout coal..

[lexington minuteman 1775]

Karl Rove says the "pipeline is in the mail"!bwahahahahaha!

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

One of these lakes can handle all of our energy needs for hundreds of years, IMO. There's gotta be a way to harness the energy.

[Random Access]

Do you post this unoriginal stupid reply on every thread, or only on ones that you don't understand?

[MaDeuce]

...All these worlds are your except "Titan". Atempt no landings there ...

[driftdiver]

OK so we've been taught that hydrocarbons are the results of plant matter in the pre-historic swamps. hence the term fossil fuels. If thats the case then I wanna know how the plants got there?

Or is this proof of life on other planets?

[ahayes]

Nah. I'm designing a wormhole to transport these compounds as we speak. Natural gas prices are about to go down!

[spanalot]

Fill Er UP!

[ahayes]

There's more than one way to make a hydrocarbon.

[driftdiver]

"One of these lakes can handle all of our energy needs for hundreds of years, IMO. There's gotta be a way to harness the energy."


A REALLLY long siphon tube. Course we could go there and have huge oil tanks running across the solar system. Then the environmentalist would be complaining about the effects of oil spills on the shores of the astroid belt.

[Doctor Stochastic]

There's the "Big Inch" and the "Little Big Inch" (from WWII); now we can have the "Really Big Inch"!

[PatrickHenry]

Please, no bragging. This is a family-oriented thread.

[Fitzcarraldo]

So specular reflections from them are hard to see because they're at high latitudes.

[driftdiver]

"There's more than one way to make a hydrocarbon."

Thats kinda my point. If there's more than one way for hydrocarbons to be on Titan then there is probably more than one way on earth. Which would raise the possibility that "fossil" fuels aren't necessarily a non-renewable resource. And that said fuels may have been or may be created by other processes within the earth. That would mean the oil reserves could be a renewable resource.

Not my original idea, I read a report from a NASA scientist proposing this idea about 3 months ago based on this data.

[norwaypinesavage]

"But the source of methane inside the moon, which is releasing the gas into the atmosphere is still unknown."

Obviously, its from decaying dinosaurs and ferns. Thats the only place it can possible come from here on earth.

[Pontiac]

There's gotta be a way to harness the energy

The trick would be to keep these “Gases liquid as your transport approaches the Sun.

I would imagine the pressures would escalate quite rapidly as sunlight on the transports surface intensifies.

[RunningWolf]

Wow great article Norm! Thanks for bringing it here.

Hypothetically (and were it to be my choice) I would rather be on a manned exploration to Titan than Mars.

W.

[NormsRevenge]

That would be one heckuva mission.. maybe a stopoff at Mars and then onto Titan.. I hope you're young, this is definitely quite a few years down the road at the rate
Nasa is moving.

[SunkenCiv]

Ping?

[RunningWolf]

Obviously, its from decaying dinosaurs and ferns. Thats the only place it can possible come from here on earth

Heh heh heh ;) You forgot the plankton seas.

I think you know this (or you would not have said that) but they are finding oil far deeper than the original models predicted. I wont name the models here & now but I think you know what they were.., LOL.

W.

[furball4paws]

Well, we could ignite it and aim it at the sun for a great July 4th display.

[Carl LaFong]

That looks like the surface of most of the roads in northeast Ohio.

[RunningWolf]

No, I would be age disqualified too.

For what its worth IMO, the manned missions like that will not happen until we develop the new propulsion technologies (ion or plasma?) which give big leaps over over the current (liquid & solid fuel) combustible fuel systems. My analogy here would be from radial engine to jet engine.

W.

[JCEccles]

Seems to me there was an intrepid original-thinking scientist by the name of Goldschmidt about 20 years ago who theorized that much of the earth's hydrocarbons are of non-organic origin, cosmic flotsam and jetsam left over from the early accretion of the solar system.

The self-appointed high priests and keepers of the pure faith of science laughed him to scorn, ridiculed him, and essentially excommunicated him for thinking such an unacceptable thing.

And so it continues today.

[bpjam]

Oh no, not hydrocarbons!!!!! Global warming has even started to ruin the weather on Saturn & Mars!!!

[VeniVidiVici]

I think it's quite obvious that this means the dinosaurs were successful in starting their own space program and colonized Titan eons ago.

[annie laurie]

Titan is a heckuva neat place, and just keeps getting more interesting.

Thanks for the ping :)

[SunkenCiv]

You may be thinking of (the late) Thomas Gold, one of the bright spots of the 20th century. :')

[maxsand]

It's to "rich" to burn.

That would be 'too' rich to burn.

[maxsand]

That would be one heckuva mission.. maybe a stopoff at Mars and then onto Titan

maybe a stopoff at Mars, then Joe's Ice House and then onto Titan. . .

[IronJack]

This news sent gasoline futures soaring, much to the puzzlement of industry analysts, who say that the discovery of vast quantities of extraterrestrial fuelstuffs should have driven prices downward. A spokesman for Exxon Mobil blamed the price spike on a refinery snafu in Botswana, despite the fact that Botswana produces less oil than Carlos Mencia's forehead.

[ASA Vet]

That two.

[Strategerist]

OK so we've been taught that hydrocarbons are the results of plant matter in the pre-historic swamps

You've had some pretty bad teachers.

Petroleum, a particularly complex hydrocarbon and more complex than the ones on Titan, is formed from dead oceanic and large lake plankton. Has nothing to do with swamps at all.