Lake detected near equator of Titan


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In a surprise find, scientists say they have spotted hints of a methane-rich lake and several ponds near the equator of Saturn's biggest moon.

Lakes were previously spied near Titan's polar regions. It was long thought that bodies of liquid could not exist near the tropics because they would evaporate.

"This discovery was completely unexpected because lakes are not stable at tropical latitudes," said planetary scientist Caitlin Griffith of the University of Arizona, who led the discovery team.

By measuring reflected sunlight from Titan's surface and atmosphere, the international Cassini spacecraft detected a dark region near the landing site of Huygens, a companion probe that parachuted to Titan's equator in 2005.

Scientists said further analysis of the dark feature suggests the presence of a 927-square-mile (2,400-square-kilometer) hydrocarbon lake -- twice as big as Lake Champlain, a freshwater lake that borders upstate New York and Vermont. Near the tropical lake were hints of four shallow ponds similar in size and depth to marshes on Earth.

The findings were detailed in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

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we have instruments that can scan for that, no? as for the lakes, that's nice to know, tho places like Triton to me are just potential research and mining locations. i don't think we will have much use for it in terms of actual settlement, that should just be Luna and Mars. of course my motto of the more the merrier stands, but a methane sea on Triton i don't think has too many practical implications for bettering our species.

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You can tell what substance it is by looking at various not-visible-to-naked eye wavelengths like x-rays, etc.

Each substance has a predefined set of wavelengths you will get hits at and you can ID a substance from them.

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Maybe is not methane. But not water.

You need to apply basic science here. Titan is freezing compared to Earth, you expect water to be anything than frozen? They are expecting methane, a gas on earth to be in its liquid state. Unless the volcanic states can maintain the temperature.

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Maybe it's just plain water.

The light reflecting from the site can be run through Cassini's Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer, which can give you a pretty good idea of the composition. In this case it showed a preponderance of hydrogen and carbon - meaning it's a hydrocarbon lake. The most common hydrocarbons that are a liquid at those temps and in that part of the solar system are ethane, methane, and propane, but there could also be smaller amounts of butane.

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Lakes were previously spied near Titan's polar regions. It was long thought that bodies of liquid could not exist near the tropics because they would evaporate.

Amazing. We still learn something new about our solar system every day.

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I wonder how long would it take these stupid senators to send a ship and get resources so we can get cheaper energy ....

That would require science and reason. And those are bad. Shhh... Don't let the Government hear you talk about such hearsay.

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I wonder how well stocked the ponds are with fish? Methanebass, Propanetrout and Ethanecatfish.

Also I'm buying stock in Bic Corporation.

tC7Kz.jpg

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And what would you guys think we could do to bring all of that methane to Earth? Tie a rope to Titan and pull it back here?

Or maybe we could fill up some gallons and bring them all the way to Earth.

Cheap energy!

:pinch:

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There are easier places to get thruster fuel for spacecraft 'out there' too - small low gravity icy moons for water, which can be used to make H2 and O2 for starters.

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Maybe it's just plain water.

^ The same as NASA :laugh:

^ And what if the lakes are water, but with high concentrations of methane in the air ? Might screw up the results.

You really don't give enough credit to those scientists. You don't have to know everything they do to respect their obvious knowledge.

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