Saturn's Moon Titan May be More Earth-Like Than Thought

The more we find out about Titan the more likely I believe there is life on this moon. Not necessarily saying other species (human/alien like) but for sure biological organisms. The boundary layer of Titan is quite possibly thicker which would allow for warmth to held in better. Good article from space.com. Hopefully the video embeds but I'm sure it got funked up.

www.space.com...

Link to video... working on embedding.

I still believe that Titan is too far from the sun to sustain life, although I am no expert.

Originally posted by UsualSuspect
I still believe that Titan is too far from the sun to sustain life, although I am no expert.

Remember, the laws of life on earth don't necessarily pertain to the laws of life elsewhere. Food for thought.

Originally posted by UsualSuspect
I still believe that Titan is too far from the sun to sustain life, although I am no expert.

I think that was the thought for many but with the boundary layer being thicker it will allow for the carbon to stay in place to keep it warmer. Kind of like all the pollution on Earth...creating a layer so thick the Carbon can't release thus creating what we call "Global Warming" or "The Green House Effect".

The problem with life developing there though is that methane is a very nonpolar compound, unlike water which is one of the more polar and electronegative ones. Polarity matters because it is one of the main components determining how well things will dissolve into a liquid. Liquid methane is prevalent on Titan, and in order for life to arise there the liquid will have to dissolve the building blocks of life into itself which, sadly, is next to impossible for methane to do. If we could terraform Titan by heating it up and adding the necessary components (I imagine water would be needed) we could turn all that carbon and hydrogen into something that terrestrial plants and creatures could thrive on. Centuries away at best, though.

reply to post by Mkoll


Lol nice post...you know way more than I on this subject.

Undoubtedly life dos exist elsewhere, perhaps within our own solar system. The fact that we have life here thriving in dire places, proves this.

Good thread!

And no, saying life, I do not mean sapien type beings with intelligence, but neither are the bacteria flourishing in the sulfur rich caverns deep within the earth, or the life that feeds on them.

Remember light cannot reach the deepest depths of the ocean so the life there is sustained on the geo-thermal heat. If titan's core is hot it's possible life can exist there.

If life does exist there I would imagine it would be very slow paced and extremely interesting

To look at the rendered image in the video, it seems that there are clouds and green landmasses...

Of course those clouds COULD be methane... I don't believe I will know the facts in this lifetime!

Although life exists in places on earth that the sun does not reach, it is still the energy from the sun and the things this energy creates that allow life to flourish all over our planet. The other factor that gets me thinking is also that Titan is a moon, so part of its orbit is spent on the other side of Saturn making titans days a lot longer. The greenhouse effect required to sustain the heat for life will need to be extremely intense. This I think could make the high temperatures very extreme also.
However I am not going to rule out the possibility of life on Titan, there is always a chance.

I like that you didn't jump to conclusions about life in your title and also your open mindedness to the possibility of life, how ever it may occur, in our solar system. So S&F for you.

reply to post by HawkeyeNation


Here are two good BBC documentaries about Titan:

Titan: A Place Like Home

Google Video Link

Destination Titan



Saturn's Moon Titan May be More Earth-Like Than Thought

Exciting times.

Originally posted by HardyWhite
Of course those clouds COULD be methane... I don't believe I will know the facts in this lifetime!

Why do you believe they only 'could' be methane? We already do know a lot of the facts now....

reply to post by HawkeyeNation


Nice thread, but the video is missing a few key facts.

Namely, that Titan, while an interesting place, is not very "Earth-like" simply because it's darn cold.......well outside the "Goldilocks Zone" in our Solar System, being well too far from the Sun.

However.....this is not to say that some very extreme form of life cannot exist there.....perhaps a form of life that "we" (Humans) may not at first recognize.

There are only the "formats" we are familiar with, based on our experience here on this planet. "Carbon-based" primarily.

Time and investigation and experience will tell............


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wanted to add another observation, was interrupted........the rotation direction of Titan (and in fact, nearly all the celestial bodies in our Solar System).

Presuming that in the video "up" is the same as "north" (as is convention), then it is evident that Titan, as well as Earth (and most others) rotates counter-clockwise (or, "anti-clockwise") when viewed from "top down".....or, from above north, looking "south".

This indicates the initial conditions, and direction of rotation of ALL the nascent matter that eventually came to comprise the Sun, planets and moons in our Solar System, as we see today. Bearing in mind that there are a few abnormalities, likely due to as yet unknown perturbations in billions of years past.

Venus is one, and Uranus another...."oddballs", if you will.

reply to post by HawkeyeNation

Having another planet "like" earth RIGHT NOW boost the prospects of life elsewhere, IMHO. We already know that Mars very likely had oceans and there's some supporting evidence that it had life or has life. Venus may have had oceans too at one time. This is a lot of evidence we can use in our search. The planets orbiting other stars are just the beginning, really. There's so much to be learned. I feel so dumb.

Originally posted by UsualSuspect
I still believe that Titan is too far from the sun to sustain life, although I am no expert.

It is too far from the sun to support life?

And I suppose Earth just happens to be in the most PERFECT spot to do so?

Lucky us.....

Human arrogance leads to this kind of thinking.....WE feel that WE are in the "Goldie locks Zone" because WE live here....

I am certain that the inhabitants of Venus feel that THEY are in the Goldie Locks Zone because THEY live there...
Earth could be viewed as too cold.


I am certain that the inhabitants of Neptune feel that THEY are in the Goldie Locks Zone because THEY live there...
Earth could be viewed as too hot.

We will never progress as a society and expand our knowledge and acceptance of the universe as long as we remain undoubtedly ARROGANT= "Life can only exist where it has what WE have...blah blah blah".

Arrogant and Ignorant

reply to post by ButterCookie


I don't see arrogance in his statement, to be honest. An arrogant person would leave out any admission of being potentially wrong. And as far as ignorance goes, we are technically ignorant of any other life in this solar system until we can actually find it. I think that there is life in our solar system other than on earth, but I imagine it would be single celled, and highly adapted to it's environment, which is likely a small area compared to the size of the planet it would be living, because life certianly will have upper and lower limits.

Originally posted by Mkoll
reply to post by ButterCookie

 

I don't see arrogance in his statement, to be honest. An arrogant person would leave out any admission of being potentially wrong. And as far as ignorance goes, we are technically ignorant of any other life in this solar system until we can actually find it. I think that there is life in our solar system other than on earth, but I imagine it would be single celled, and highly adapted to it's environment, which is likely a small area compared to the size of the planet it would be living, because life certianly will have upper and lower limits.

That's just it...why are you supposing that other life has to be 'single-celled micro-organism'?

Because that keeps you at the top of the totem poll.

That would be something, maybe the thick atmosphere creates a kind of warm blanket when the sun heats it and temperature rises? But I think if we could smell Titan , you'll puke the whole time of the stench of all that methane,or you just feeling at home?