Radar Evidence for Methane Lakes On Titan 24
DrMorpheus writes "A series of 25 radar observations, taken when Saturn made close approaches to Earth in 2001 and 2002, have provided by far the best evidence yet of methane lakes. Astronomers have suspected since the Voyager fly-bys of the 1980s that liquid hydrocarbons were present on Titan's surface."
The Nutty Professor? (Score:2)
Re:The Nutty Professor? (Score:2)
I for one... (Score:2, Funny)
The Sirens of Titan (Score:2, Funny)
There are sirens on Titan, and they sound like this [fungreetz.com].
More Info about the ESA Huygens mission (Score:5, Informative)
But don't get too excited...
Re:More Info about the ESA Huygens mission (Score:1)
Re:More Info about the ESA Huygens mission (Score:4, Interesting)
One word: life. Or at least an interesting possibility to look for life. It's like a lottery ticket, no matter how remote the chances are for finding life, it is important and exciting because the possible "payoff" is unimaginably huge. Life on earth arose in the oceans, and requires liquid water to fuction. Methane is an organic molecule, so we are taking about organic oceans or lakes. The moment you agree to look for life that is "different" than earth life it becomes very plausible and interesting to consider the possibility of life based on a different liquid.
The linked article also mentions that they are pretty sure they have evidence of methane rain, just like the earth has water rain. There is also a probe that will parachute down onto Titan in 2005. They had to redesign the probe to handle a possible "splashdown" rather than a normal landing.
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Re:More Info about the ESA Huygens mission (Score:2)
No, you're an idiot, but since you're an Anonymous Coward who didn't actualy dispute anything he said, we'll ignore you.
Though I do have to agree his comment about fusion communication was rather improbable.
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Re:More Info about the ESA Huygens mission (Score:2)
I think finding a "known form of life" on Titan would be far more shocking than finding an "unknow form of life" on Titan, LOL.
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Re:Hopeless moderator (Score:1)
That's why I don't bother to post articles anymore.
It really makes for a richer slashdot experience, don't you think?
No photos (Score:1)
Unfortunately, I don't think the Titan probe has any cameras. Thus, don't expect postcards of Titan beaches.
Re:Yes! photos! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Yes! photos! (Score:1)
I stand corrected. It will be an interesting mission. I hope the discovered "dopler" problem does not significantly impact the photo part of the mission. When bandwidth becomes a premium, photos are often the first to be cut on such missions because imaging is a bandwidth hog. Thanks.