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SCI/TECH: Cassini takes a close-up look at Saturn's giant moon Titan

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posted on Oct, 27 2004 @ 09:22 PM
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Late Tuesday Cassini spacecraft began sendiing close up images of Saturn's largest moon Titan. These new images show the surface of Titan never before seen in such great detail. Titan has an atmosphere 1� times as dense as Earth's and contains organic compounds, and may have oceans or seas of liquid methane and ethane. Titan is also a very cold place with temps as low as minus-289 degrees Fahrenheit...
 





SignOnSanDiego.com Full Article

PASADENA � The international Cassini spacecraft began beaming close-up images of Saturn's moon Titan to Earth late Tuesday.

Cassini reached the point of closest approach at 9:44 a.m. PDT and transmitted to NASA's deep space network antenna in Madrid, Spain about 6:30 p.m. PDT.

The first image was a low-resolution scene of a portion of Titan's disk covered in the now familiar hydrocarbon haze.

"It takes a bit of processing to bring out features," imaging team leader Carolyn Porco.

There was concern that bad weather in Spain might interfere with some of the night-long data transmission.



Please visit the link provided for the complete story.


The spacecraft also carries a European Space Agency probe that will be released on Dec. 24 and plunge into Titan's atmosphere in January, sending pictures and science data back to Cassini as it descends under a parachute.

Hugyens' Landing Site:

From the New Images...



On a personal level, I am amazed that in my lifetime I am able to view images of Titan like this.. Sent to us from a spacecraft that traveled some 2.2 BILLION miles.

Simply amazing.

For the latest images, Facts and Breaking news:

Saturn.JPL.NASA.gov

Related ATS Discussion:

Reminder: Cassini, Titan Flyby

[edit on 27-10-2004 by UM_Gazz]



posted on Oct, 28 2004 @ 05:18 AM
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I wonder if there's oil on Titan.

It's got a lot of methane, and methane plus heat and pressure creates oil, according to the abiotic theory.

Wouldn't it be funny if Titan was simply a petrochemical glob of infinite oil, and a massive space industry of tankers bringing oil to Earth sprang up?



posted on Oct, 28 2004 @ 06:02 AM
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Titan's always had a special place in my heart, b/c the hazy orange pictures sent back by the voyager probes were absolutely amazing. It's worth mentioning, though, that the inline image above is false-color; as cool as that image is and as cool as titan is, it doesn't have that blueish shade to it anymore than I do.

taibunsuu: that's actually a really funny thought; the big question -- aside from the overall validity of the abiotic theory -- is whether titan ever had enough heat and/or pressure for oil to form. It's not exactly a warm place there, although that it has clouds and whatnot suggests its at least got some energy input.



posted on Oct, 28 2004 @ 06:38 AM
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i think there are some resources that could be used though but would take ages to send back here. how big would the spacecraft have to be? how long would it take load up into the spacecraft?



posted on Oct, 28 2004 @ 06:43 AM
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Originally posted by taibunsuu
I wonder if there's oil on Titan.

It's got a lot of methane, and methane plus heat and pressure creates oil, according to the abiotic theory.



Titan is a cold place. No heat. Internal pressures could cause the heat though, but depending on what was covering the surface, the internal heat may be dissipated faster than it can be stored. All I know is I wouldnt want to light a match there with an ocean full of methane



posted on Oct, 28 2004 @ 07:50 AM
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Wow,this was totally unexpected to me.

An atmosphere 1 and abit times greater than earth!

What the hell are we doing putting the rovers on Mars when this moon has and atmosphere and organisms, its beyond me!

This is great news cannot wait till the probe gets some nice images.
By the way when are the probes being launched to gather the pictures?

No doubt we will have people making "Faces" out of any strange sort of rock or the likes.



posted on Oct, 28 2004 @ 07:52 AM
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Originally posted by taibunsuu
I wonder if there's oil on Titan.

It's got a lot of methane, and methane plus heat and pressure creates oil, according to the abiotic theory.

Wouldn't it be funny if Titan was simply a petrochemical glob of infinite oil, and a massive space industry of tankers bringing oil to Earth sprang up?



If there was oil on titan, we would be going to war with it�






posted on Oct, 28 2004 @ 04:26 PM
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All I know is I wouldnt want to light a match there with an ocean full of methane



So I assume this ESA probe will be using just a parachute or something to slow itself on its decent, considering the methane levels rockets would be out of the question? I could see that as something being so obvious it was overlooked. Hehe I guess we'll see...

-raven




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