Titan: swimming in the rain
Signs of lakes, flash floods, storm clouds and drizzle seen on Saturn's moon.
What's the weather like on Titan, Saturn's largest moon? New research this week suggests it is pretty wet. Papers published in Nature show evidence of a light drizzle, and forecast the potential for occasional flash floods from storm clouds. Meanwhile, recent radar images from the Cassini spacecraft have revealed a land of lakes in Titan's northern hemisphere.
Read the story here.
Comments
what kind of features does it have ? Since it is the largest moon of Suturn ,what is the difference between it and other planets?
Posted by: Rose | July 27, 2006 02:21 AM
The article goes on to say:
"But the atmosphere is ten times thicker than Earth's, and much colder: at –179 °C on the surface, it is methane, not water, that dominates Titan's weather."
Interesting stuff! - and there's a related item on the BBC website:
Methane makers yield to science
"The archaea are probably the major source of methane emanating from rice fields, contributing up to a quarter of global emissions of the gas."
An archaea organism group known as "Rice Cluster 1" (RC-1) are believed to be responsible and the report finishes with:
Some researchers hold out hope that some of the methane traces observed on Mars, for example, may be coming from organisms like RC-I.
John Latter / Jorolat
(Evolution Research)
Posted by: John Latter | July 27, 2006 05:15 AM
May anyone tell me if there are any developped models about the posibility of life based on methane? Not just especulation, I mean a scientific model. Thank you, from Spain.
Posted by: cesar gracia | July 27, 2006 11:32 AM
May anyone tell me if there are any developped models about the posibility of life based on methane?
Here's a Scientific American article you may find interesting Cesar:
When Methane Made Climate
Its a pdf file and the first page is blank so you have to scroll down (I also had to play around with the 'zoom' tool).
Its mainly about Earth but Titan is mentioned towards the end.
John Latter / Jorolat
Evolution Research
Posted by: John Latter | July 28, 2006 09:26 AM
Interesting stuff. Pity the flyby didn't glimpse the presence of the Rashirr, as detected by Newsmedianews in 2004.
Posted by: Keith Harris | July 29, 2006 12:19 AM