Fog discovered on Saturn's largest moon - Titan

Fog Discovered on Saturn's Largest Moon, Titan

ScienceDaily (Dec. 20, 2009) — Saturn's largest moon, Titan, looks to be the only place in the solar system -- aside from our home planet, Earth -- with copious quantities of liquid (largely, liquid methane and ethane) sitting on its surface. According to planetary astronomer Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Earth and Titan share yet another feature, which is inextricably linked with that surface liquid: common fog.

Source

Before this discovery Earth was the only known place to have an active hydrological cycle. Fact of the day for me, what about you all?

I hate flagging and starring a thread without posting so

awesome stuff

wow. any word as to what the odds of life there are now that we have this info?

good find

Great stuff OP,

So in a relatively short amount of time the ISRO have discovered water on the moon and possibly carbon compounds - i believe i read that on here at some point.

Not only that, but giant earths have been discovered and i'm pretty sure there were some other cool finds but they escape me,

I can't help but think that some type of disclosure is just around the corner, or that maybe one these planet's or moon's that contain water and ice could end up being our new home IF the predictions for 2012 come true.

Exciting and scary times! S+F

reply to post by vyrox


There's been speculation on possible life on Titan for decades now, so far it looks a lot like Venus to me.
Titan
Venus

But, personally, I'd be more interested at the possibility of life on Enceladus or Europa.

Edit:URL link fail.

[edit on 20-12-2009 by links234]

[edit on 20-12-2009 by links234]

It seems the fog isn't created like it is here on Earth. Because Titan has such high humidity (it says when it reaches 100 percent) it causes the fog. On Earth we have fog from multiple things, for instance wet air passes over cold ground or cold weather makes water/methane (methan is on Titan) condense. However on Titan it's too hot to have fog from cold condensed water/methane molecules; the fog is due (no pun intended) to extremely high humidity.

And no I don't think this would give any reason to believe there is life on Titan, at least not at the current time. Maybe in the past there was, but obviously I nor you have any way of knowing that yet.

I forget what network on tv had this series, it was about different planets and some moons - each episode was about how we'd live on each place (even if it was impossible) and I remember Titan was one of the episodes. I wish I remembered the info from it but I don't right now. Maybe someone can find out what I'm talking about before I do (if I find the episode I'll post the video).

I wish I could come back in a million years just to see what sort of life has popped up on Titan. On a planetary body that raw, with all the ingredients and organic material available, the possibilities of the forms life might take are literally endless.

Excellent post highlyoriginal! Indeed, a cool fact for the day.

I also agree that disclosure could be coming soon. All these articles about new stuff on planets and moons in our solar system makes me wonder..

Anyway, have a good one guys!

OMNI

Hmmm if Titan is overflowing in Hydrocarbons "Oil" And it was my understanding that Hydrocarbons formed on earth from fossil's then what maybe forming these on titan?

Originally posted by MOTT the HOOPLE
Hmmm if Titan is overflowing in Hydrocarbons "Oil" And it was my understanding that Hydrocarbons formed on earth from fossil's then what maybe forming these on titan?

I once read sometime ago that the basic building blocks of life literally rain down on Titan.

Scientists are now talking about putting a boat on Titan's methane lakes, it's a long way off but the very fact it's being discussed usually means they intend to try it….


'Boat' could explore Saturn moon

reply to post by Majestic RNA


That would be pretty cool. But why send a boat when you haven't even sent some sort of rover to take samples of the ground etc. you know? After we get some samples back, then maybe send a boat out.

reply to post by highlyoriginal


You don't get it, the boat would be the rover, it would take samples of the oceanic methane.

reply to post by andre18


No, I understand that but I would think you'd want to send some sort of land rover before sending one into the water, or both simultaneously. Obviously it would be beneficial to get both sets of data, and when I think of exploration I would assume you'd want to conquer land before water that's all. But it would be awesome to see a camera on a boat on Titan.

By the way, I guess if the technology was proficient enough you'd be able to send a rover that could drive into water from land, therefore conquering both land and water at the same time (and it would save a lot of cash as well).

[edit on 20-12-2009 by highlyoriginal]

reply to post by highlyoriginal

I agree with you, it would be a great way to explore the moon, but I guess at the moment the tech v money wins, but come on' the very fact their gonna think about a boat is a step forward.....

reply to post by Majestic RNA


Yeah, like I said seeing footage of a boat being sailed on Titan would be pretty sweet. That's only something we can dream of at this point in time, but maybe in the near future it will be a reality. Who knows?

i hope i live long enough for humainty to send a probe to another planet or moon and take pictures or videos of it.

Originally posted by STFUPPERCUTTER
i hope i live long enough for humainty to send a probe to another planet or moon and take pictures or videos of it.

You have! There have been numerous missions to all of the planets in our solar system, yes even to Saturn's Titan!

Originally posted by links234

Originally posted by MOTT the HOOPLE
Hmmm if Titan is overflowing in Hydrocarbons "Oil" And it was my understanding that Hydrocarbons formed on earth from fossil's then what maybe forming these on titan?

I once read sometime ago that the basic building blocks of life literally rain down on Titan.

I read this post and immediately thought of Airplane II. It's one of the best movie quotes of all-time.

Steve McCroskey: Jacobs, I want to know absolutely everything that's happened up till now.

Jacobs: Well, let's see. First the earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil. And then the Arabs came and they bought Mercedes Benzes. And Prince Charles started wearing all of Lady Di's clothes. I couldn't believe it.

Originally posted by STFUPPERCUTTER
i hope i live long enough for humainty to send a probe to another planet or moon and take pictures or videos of it.

For all we know man has already been to other universe's... or other planets/moons.

Maybe some day we'll get disclosure.... Maybe some day soon!