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Posts tagged "titan"
ikenbot: Saturn Moon Titan’s Atmosphere Shows Surprising Rise Saturn’s cloudy moon Titan has a middle atmosphere containing organic compounds that could hold the potential for life. Now, a new look at that atmospheric layer by a NASA spacecraft shows that it may be on the move, scientists say. Image: This night-side photo of Titan taken by the Cassini spacecraft shows a buildup of haze over the Saturn moon’s south pole (bottom). New results from Cassini’s infrared spectrometer show that air is now sinking at the south pole, leading to increased temperatures at high altitude and a large enrichment in trace gases. Image released Nov. 28, 2012. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute New measurements from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn show that the seasonal movement of the trace atmospheric gases on Titan rises to higher altitudes than expected, researchers said. Because of Titan’s seasonal orientation, the winter poles always point away from Earth, hiding on the moon’s dark side. Studying the complex trace gases in the visible summer hemisphere doesn’t solve the problem; water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere obscures the measurements of the trace gases.

ikenbot:

Saturn Moon Titan’s Atmosphere Shows Surprising Rise

Saturn’s cloudy moon Titan has a middle atmosphere containing organic compounds that could hold the potential for life. Now, a new look at that atmospheric layer by a NASA spacecraft shows that it may be on the move, scientists say.

Image: This night-side photo of Titan taken by the Cassini spacecraft shows a buildup of haze over the Saturn moon’s south pole (bottom). New results from Cassini’s infrared spectrometer show that air is now sinking at the south pole, leading to increased temperatures at high altitude and a large enrichment in trace gases. Image released Nov. 28, 2012. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

New measurements from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn show that the seasonal movement of the trace atmospheric gases on Titan rises to higher altitudes than expected, researchers said.

Because of Titan’s seasonal orientation, the winter poles always point away from Earth, hiding on the moon’s dark side. Studying the complex trace gases in the visible summer hemisphere doesn’t solve the problem; water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere obscures the measurements of the trace gases.

ikenbot: Proposed Space Boat Could Explore Lakes On Saturn’s Moon Titan While rovers are ideal for exploring Mars, a boat is best for Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Scientists are proposing a new mission to explore this alluring world that would send a floating probe to land in a lake on Titan. Image: Images from NASA’s Cassini mission show river networks draining into lakes in Titan’s north polar region.Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS Titan, the largest of the more than 60 natural satellites of Saturn, is covered in seas, lakes and rivers of methane, and hosts a thick atmosphere, making it one of the most Earth-like bodies in the solar system. Smaller than Earth but wider than Mercury, Titan is in many ways more like a planet than a moon. Scientists don’t know if life might be possible on Titan. Some think it’s too cold, as average temperatures are a chilly minus 289 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 178 degrees Celsius). Yet others say the insulating atmosphere and plentiful liquids, not to mention a possible subsurface ocean, could be hospitable to microbial organisms. Full Article

ikenbot:

Proposed Space Boat Could Explore Lakes On Saturn’s Moon Titan

While rovers are ideal for exploring Mars, a boat is best for Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Scientists are proposing a new mission to explore this alluring world that would send a floating probe to land in a lake on Titan.

Image: Images from NASA’s Cassini mission show river networks draining into lakes in Titan’s north polar region.Credit: NASA/JPL/USGS

Titan, the largest of the more than 60 natural satellites of Saturn, is covered in seas, lakes and rivers of methane, and hosts a thick atmosphere, making it one of the most Earth-like bodies in the solar system. Smaller than Earth but wider than Mercury, Titan is in many ways more like a planet than a moon.

Scientists don’t know if life might be possible on Titan. Some think it’s too cold, as average temperatures are a chilly minus 289 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 178 degrees Celsius). Yet others say the insulating atmosphere and plentiful liquids, not to mention a possible subsurface ocean, could be hospitable to microbial organisms.

Full Article

the-star-stuff:

A New Angle on Titan

Here’s a great shots of Titan and Saturn acquired by Cassini on May 6, 2012 just after a pass by the haze-covered moon. It’s a color-composite made from images taken in Cassini’s red, green and blue color channels, and the resulting image was color adjusted a bit to appear more “Saturny.” (NASA/JPL/SSI/J. Major)

the-star-stuff:

Views of Moons

1. Can you tell which of these moons in the foreground? It’s Titan, the large one (diameter 5,150 kilometres; bigger than our Moon) with the orange atmosphere, with smaller, shiny, icy Tethys in the background. Titan was 2.3 million kilometres from Titan, and 3.4 million from Tethys when it took this image. Saturn’s rings can be seen edge-on in the distance.

2. This view shows Titan again, this time with the much smaller moon Dione (1,123 km diameter) peering around from behind, with Saturn and its rings (edge-on) in the background. Cassini was 2.3 million kilometres from Titan and 3.2 million kilometres from Dione when it took the image. The haze that surrounds Titan can clearly be seen. Titan has a mostly nitrogen atmosphere that extends far from the surface. The surface pressure is about 1.5 times that on Earth.

Images courtesy NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

ikenbot: Beside a Giant Credit: NASA, Cassini, JPL-Caltech Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, looks small seen to the right of the gas giant in this Cassini view. Titan (3200 miles, 5150 kilometers across) is in the upper right. Saturn’s rings appear across the top of the image, and they cast a series of shadows onto the planet across the middle of the image.

ikenbot:

Beside a Giant

Credit: NASA, Cassini, JPL-Caltech

Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, looks small seen to the right of the gas giant in this Cassini view.

Titan (3200 miles, 5150 kilometers across) is in the upper right. Saturn’s rings appear across the top of the image, and they cast a series of shadows onto the planet across the middle of the image.

the-star-stuff:

Sexiest Images From Saturn

#1. On the night side of Saturn, the planet casts a dark shadow over its rings. The moon Tethys can be seen in the upper right of the image, and the moon Enceladus is visible in the lower right. This image was taken May 30, 2010.

#2. Cassini did a flyby of the 50-mile-wide Pandora moon on June 3, 2010.

#3. In the rings on the left, the moon Daphnis (5 miles across) affects ring material as it orbits. The material on the inner edge of Daphnis orbits faster than the moon, and the material on the outer edge orbits more slowly, which causes the waves. On the right, Pan (17 miles across) also causes waves. Image taken June 3, 2010.

#4. The larger Rhea looms over its sibling moon Epimetheus with Saturn and its rings in the background. The two moons are actually about 250,000 miles apart. Rhea is Saturn’s second largest moon at 946 miles across and Epimetheus is only 70 miles across. This image was taken in visible green light on March 24, 2010.

#5. Enceladus tiger stripes are active geologic regions that spew out jets of ice and other gases. It is one of only four bodies in the solar system where active eruptions have been seen. Under the outer layer of ice there might be a liquid ocean, which could make the moon capable of supporting life. This image was taken May 28, 2010.

#6. Dione is overshadowed by Titan, the largest of Saturn’s moons at 3200 miles across — twice the diameter of our moon, and larger than the planet Mercury.  It is also the only moon known to have a dense atmosphere and surface liquid. This image was taken April 20, 2010.

#7. Moons Tethys and Rhea are visible beyond Saturn’s southern hemisphere. They orbit in the plane of the planet’s rings, but from this vantage point appear to be below the planet. Tethys is near the center of the image, and Rhea is on the lower right. Image taken June 29,2010.

#8. The moon Tethys makes its way around Saturn. Tethys is an icy moon, thought to be composed almost entirely of liquid ice all the way through because its density is almost exactly that of water. This image was taken June 9, 2010.

Images: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

the-star-stuff: Shadows on Saturn The shadows of Enceladus (left) and Titan (right) on Saturn’s cloud tops. Images courtesy NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute. These two views from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, currently in orbit around Saturn, show the huge difference in scale between it’s largest Moon, Titan, and a smaller one, Enceladus—even though the moons themselves are not in view./ On the left is a view taken with Saturn”s rings almost edge-on. On the planet’s clouds, just below the rings, can be seen a dark spot—this is the shadow being cast by Enceladus. The moon itself is a long way off to the left and not visible in this frame. Enceladus is about 500 kilometres in diameter. On the right is another view with almost the same geometry, but this time there is a huge shadow on Saturn’s clouds, stretched out by the curve of the planet. This is the shadow of Titan, Saturn’s largest planet and one that is currently the target of many investigations. Story by Jonathan Nally, Editor, SpaceInfo.com.au

the-star-stuff:

Shadows on Saturn

The shadows of Enceladus (left) and Titan (right) on Saturn’s cloud tops. Images courtesy NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute.

These two views from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, currently in orbit around Saturn, show the huge difference in scale between it’s largest Moon, Titan, and a smaller one, Enceladus—even though the moons themselves are not in view./

On the left is a view taken with Saturn”s rings almost edge-on. On the planet’s clouds, just below the rings, can be seen a dark spot—this is the shadow being cast by Enceladus. The moon itself is a long way off to the left and not visible in this frame. Enceladus is about 500 kilometres in diameter.

On the right is another view with almost the same geometry, but this time there is a huge shadow on Saturn’s clouds, stretched out by the curve of the planet. This is the shadow of Titan, Saturn’s largest planet and one that is currently the target of many investigations.

Story by Jonathan Nally, Editor, SpaceInfo.com.au

peteuplink: Orange and Blue Hazes This view from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft looks toward the south polar region of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, and shows a depression within the moon’s orange and blue haze layers near the south pole. The moon’s high altitude haze layer appears blue here; whereas, the main atmospheric haze is orange. The difference in color could be due to particle size of the haze. The blue haze likely consists of smaller particles than the orange haze. The depressed or attenuated layer appears in the transition area between the orange and blue hazes about a third of the way in from the left edge of the narrow-angle image. The moon’s south pole is in the upper right of this image. This view suggests Titan’s north polar vortex, or hood, is beginning to flip from north to south. The southern pole of Titan is going into darkness as the sun advances towards the north with each passing day. The upper layer of Titan’s hazes is still illuminated by sunlight. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were obtained on Sept. 11, 2011 at a distance of approximately 83,000 miles (134,000 kilometers) from Titan. Image scale is 2,581 feet (787 meters) per pixel.Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

peteuplink:

Orange and Blue Hazes

This view from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft looks toward the south polar region of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, and shows a depression within the moon’s orange and blue haze layers near the south pole.

The moon’s high altitude haze layer appears blue here; whereas, the main atmospheric haze is orange. The difference in color could be due to particle size of the haze. The blue haze likely consists of smaller particles than the orange haze.

The depressed or attenuated layer appears in the transition area between the orange and blue hazes about a third of the way in from the left edge of the narrow-angle image. The moon’s south pole is in the upper right of this image. This view suggests Titan’s north polar vortex, or hood, is beginning to flip from north to south.

The southern pole of Titan is going into darkness as the sun advances towards the north with each passing day. The upper layer of Titan’s hazes is still illuminated by sunlight.

Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were obtained on Sept. 11, 2011 at a distance of approximately 83,000 miles (134,000 kilometers) from Titan. Image scale is 2,581 feet (787 meters) per pixel.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute