Hum Posted May 26, 2005 Share Posted May 26, 2005 PASADENA, California (AP) -- Scientists are baffled by an unusual bright spot on Saturn's big moon, Titan. The Cassini spacecraft captured an image of the 300-mile (480-kilometer) blotch during a flyby of Titan earlier this year. "At first glance, I thought the feature looked strange, almost out of place," Robert Brown, a member of the Cassini project, said Wednesday. Scientists believe the spot might have formed recently as a result of an asteroid impact, landslide or volcanic eruption. Another Titan flyby in July could determine exactly what the spot is. Cassini has observed other patches on Titan's surface that usually disappear after a few hours. The $3.3 billion Cassini mission, 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 moons. Scientists think Titan's atmosphere is similar to that of the early Earth and studying it could provide clues to how life began here. Cassini is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. source: http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/05/26/titan.ap/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted May 26, 2005 Share Posted May 26, 2005 Thread title is a bit misleading but i can understand :) I was reading on this yesterday and yes i'm very curious as to what the final word is... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hum Posted May 27, 2005 Author Share Posted May 27, 2005 :unsure: I think it's just lava flow. After cooling, it 'disappears'. ^ And no, not so misleading ... Scientists think Titan's atmosphere is similar to that of the early Earth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted May 27, 2005 Share Posted May 27, 2005 :unsure: I think it's just lava flow. After cooling, it 'disappears'.^ And no, not so misleading ... 585976457[/snapback] Saturn's Titan a 'Flammable World'By Irene Mona Klotz, Discovery News Jan. 21, 2005 ? It was just an ordinary day on Titan when Europe's Huygens probe dropped in to discover a primitive Earth-like place with rain, rivers, erosion and other natural phenomena. But rather than water, Titan's rains are methane, a highly flammable and toxic natural gas that is harmless on the alien world due to the moon's frigid temperatures ? Huygens reported -290? Fahrenheit ? and high pressure. Read more Now heres my theory. Since this Moon/planet is highly "flammable" what i think is an asteroid had penetrated the atmosphere and exploded onto the surface since it was so hot during entry. Since Saturn is more closer to the Kuiper belt than we are.. or it may have come from the asteroid belt that orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter. but then i'm just a curious amatuer not a Sci;)tist ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spazztastic Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 its a death ray aiming at earth RUN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epimetheus Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 If it was an asteroid or volcanic impact don't you think the massive fireball would've lit Titan up like a barrel of oil? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 If it was an asteroid or volcanic impact don't you think the massive fireball would've lit Titan up like a barrel of oil? 586039286[/snapback] who knows. Like i said it's just my theory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 updated information on Titan: Scientists think they've spotted a large volcano on Saturn's smoggy moon Titan. The mountain could be pumping methane into the atmosphere, which would explain the perplexing presence of the chemical that helps create Titan's dense atmospheric shroud. The new study, announced today, also adds to mounting evidence showing there are no widespread methane oceans on Titan, as scientists had predicted prior to the Cassini mission. Cassini's latest infrared data and imagery allowed researchers to peer through the smog and look at patches of the surface. The observations reveal no evidence for craters. Surely asteroids and comets have hit the moon, just as they have pummeled other objects in the solar system. So the baby-faced appearance suggests Titan's surface is constantly remade, possibly by eruptions of volcanoes like the one just found, according to a team led by French researcher Christophe Sotin. The results are reported in the June 9 issue of the journal Nature. Theories crash Previous ground-based images of Titan had revealed starkly different light and dark patches that scientists thought might represent areas of differing composition. Perhaps Titan had towering mountains and vast seas of methane, the thinking went. Some had even speculated on the huge waves that would form under the different gravity conditions. Like waves, theories of Titan have come crashing down in recent months as Cassini and its surface probe, Huygens, have returned the best views ever of the mysterious moon. Sotin and his colleagues now propose that the bright regions are areas of different slope, reflecting more light, and that most of Titan's frigid surface may be of similar icy composition. "Whatever the bright and dark regions on Titan's surface turn out to be, Cassini is taking us into a new and thrilling era of satellite exploration," writes Louise Prockter of Johns Hopkins University in a perspective on the work also published by the journal. "With 40 more planned close flybys of Titan, as well as of several other saturnian moons, we are only at the beginning of this fantastic journey." The volcano Scientists have been searching for the mechanism that would replace methane in Titan's atmosphere. Methane decays over time, and since it's the second most prevalent component of Titan's air, after nitrogen, it must constantly come from somewhere. Previous observations had suggested hints of volcanoes on Titan, but the results were inconclusive. The newfound apparent volcano is about 19 miles (30 kilometers) wide. "We propose that the structure is a dome formed by upwelling icy plumes that release methane into Titan?s atmosphere," Sotin and his colleagues write. And what would fuel a Titanic volcano? All moons, including our own, are stretched and pulled by the planet they orbit. The process is called tidal motion -- it can move oceans and more. Because Titan's orbit is elliptical, and because Saturn is so massive, tidal motion would be strong enough to generate heat within the moon. That heat could drive eruptions, the researchers say. Jupiter's moon Io, affected by immense tidal forces, is the most volcanic object in the solar system. source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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