Titan: A Wet World Not Far From Earth
13 years, 3 months ago

Titan: A Wet World Not Far From Earth

Wired  

sea-of-ligeia Sea of Ligeia Astronomers weekly announce the discovery of new exoplanets, some similar in size or temperature to our planet –- but Earth-like worlds are not always far away. Though Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is a small, cold world orbiting on the outskirts of the solar system, it actually boasts many familiar features. “Titan is fascinating because it has some surprising properties so similar to Earth,” said planetary scientist Oded Aharonson from the California Institute of Technology. “It has a liquid which erodes channels, an atmosphere, a hydrologic cycle, and many other parallels.” Chief among Titan’s interesting qualities is that it's the only body other than Earth where liquids are known to flow in large concentrations on the surface. Ligeia is one of Titan’s largest lakes, with a surface area bigger than Lake Superior, located in the planet’s northern high latitudes.

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History of this topic

Scientists Map Path of Liquid Methane, Ethane Rivers on Titan, Saturn's Largest Moon
3 years, 5 months ago

Scientists Map Path of Liquid Methane, Ethane Rivers on Titan, Saturn's Largest Moon

News 18  

Adding to the wealth of information on the solar system and its planets, a recent study by astronomers at Cornell University has published the final maps of Saturn’s moon Titan’s liquid methane rivers and tributaries. NASA’s upcoming Dragonfly mission will fly multiple sorties to sample and examine sites around Titan and the recent study may help provide context for the …

Why is NASA sending 'Dragonfly' to Titan? Here are five reasons
5 years, 1 month ago

Why is NASA sending 'Dragonfly' to Titan? Here are five reasons

India TV News  

NASA is planning to send a drone-like spacecraft Dragonfly to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon to dig further into a world that has become one of the most important targets of exploration. Dragonfly, as the mission is called, will be capable of soaring across the skies of Titan and landing intermittently to take scientific measurements, studying the world’s mysterious atmosphere and …

Studying Saturn's moon Titan may offer insights into climate on Earth: Study
5 years, 3 months ago

Studying Saturn's moon Titan may offer insights into climate on Earth: Study

India Today  

Researchers have found that Saturn's largest moon Titan undergoes significant seasonal changes in its energy budget -- the amount of solar energy it absorbs, and the heat it emits -- an advance that may lead to new insights about climate fluctuations on the Earth. The researchers, including those from the University of Houston in the US, said Titan's dynamically-varying energy …

Saturn's largest moon Titan gets its first global geologic map
5 years, 4 months ago

Saturn's largest moon Titan gets its first global geologic map

India Today  

The first map showing the global geology of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has been completed and reveals a dynamic world of dunes, lakes, plains, craters and other terrains. Titan's surface the most geologically diverse "Titan has an active methane-based hydrologic cycle that has shaped a complex geologic landscape, making its surface one of most geologically diverse in the solar system," …

Saturn's moon Titan is a lot like Earth, new research finds
5 years, 4 months ago

Saturn's moon Titan is a lot like Earth, new research finds

Salon  

When you think of a moon, you may think of a rocky, crater-filled barren surface with little to do besides wander about in your rover and collect rocks. Using newly analyzed data from NASA’s Cassini mission, astronomers published a study in Nature Astronomy this week regarding a new map of the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. “Despite the differences …

Saturn's moon Titan was shaped by similar geological processes as Earth: study
5 years, 4 months ago

Saturn's moon Titan was shaped by similar geological processes as Earth: study

Firstpost  

The dunes and lakes on Titan were relatively young while mountainous terrain appeared older. The largest of Saturn’s many moons has lakes, mountains and dunes, with its surface scarred and crafted by many of the same forces which have shaped Earth, scientists said Monday. A team led by Rosaly Lopes at the California Institute of Technology said Titan’s visible exterior …

Saturn moon Titan's wonderfully wierd terrain and possibility of life make it so very Earth-like
5 years, 4 months ago

Saturn moon Titan's wonderfully wierd terrain and possibility of life make it so very Earth-like

Firstpost  

In the same way that Earth has a water cycle, an atmosphere, dunes, plains and lakes, the frigid moon of Saturn, Titan, has methane cycles, liquid lakes, and a diverse terrain spanning its entire surface. It shows vast plains, dunes of frozen organic material, lakes of liquid methane, illuminating an exotic world considered a strong candidate in the search for …

NASA's Cassini help scientists describe methane lakes, landscape on Saturn's Titan
5 years, 11 months ago

NASA's Cassini help scientists describe methane lakes, landscape on Saturn's Titan

Firstpost  

Scientists on Monday provided the most comprehensive look to date at one of the solar system’s most exotic features: prime lakeside property in the northern polar region of Saturn’s moon Titan — if you like lakes made of stuff like liquid methane. Using data obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft before that mission ended in 2017 with a deliberate plunge into …

Craters on Titan are prime locations to search for building blocks of life: Study
6 years, 8 months ago

Craters on Titan are prime locations to search for building blocks of life: Study

Firstpost  

Large craters on Titan, are the prime locations to search for the building blocks of life. Large craters on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, are the prime locations to search for the building blocks of life, according to a study. The surface of Titan has abundant carbon-rich molecules that have been shown to form amino acids, the building blocks of proteins …

Saturn's moon Titan sports geographical features similar to that of Earth
7 years, 2 months ago

Saturn's moon Titan sports geographical features similar to that of Earth

Firstpost  

It revealed that Titan is a little bit flatter - more oblate - than was previously known, which suggests there is more variability in the thickness of Titan’s crust than previously thought. Using data from NASA ’s Cassini spacecraft, astronomers have created a global map of Saturn ’s moon Titan and found that its geographical features are similar to those …

Saturn's largest moon Titan has intense methane rainstorms that create massive floods
7 years, 5 months ago

Saturn's largest moon Titan has intense methane rainstorms that create massive floods

Firstpost  

Scientists have found that intense methane rainstorms batter Saturn’s largest moon Titan much more frequently than expected, creating massive floods in terrain that are otherwise deserts. The storms occur less than once per Titan year — which is 29-and-a-half Earth years — but they appear to have a key role in shaping Titan’s icy surface, said the study published in …

How life may find a way on Saturn’s moon
7 years, 8 months ago

How life may find a way on Saturn’s moon

CNN  

Story highlights Vinyl cyanide, a complex organic molecule, was detected on Titan The molecule is capable of forming spheres like cell membranes CNN — It may not be like the alien life in science fiction, but researchers have just confirmed the presence of something that may lead to life on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, according to a study published Friday …

Titan's origins are more like Mars than Earth, show river maps of the three planetary bodies
7 years, 10 months ago

Titan's origins are more like Mars than Earth, show river maps of the three planetary bodies

Firstpost  

The origins of topography on Saturn’s largest moon Titan may have more in common with Martian landscapes than that of Earth. New York: The origins of topography or surface elevations on Saturn’s largest moon Titan may have more in common with the history of Martian landscapes than that of Earth, show an analysis of river maps of the three planetary …

Titan: Decoding the mysterious ‘magic islands’ on Saturn’s moon
7 years, 11 months ago

Titan: Decoding the mysterious ‘magic islands’ on Saturn’s moon

CNN  

Story highlights Bright regions on Saturn's moon Titan have been called "magic islands" The brightness is actually due to bubbles in a "fizzing sea" CNN — When NASA’s Cassini mission surveyed Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, in 2013, scientists encountered a mystery they couldn’t solve: the “magic islands.” Radar images showed unexplained bright regions in Ligeia Mare, the second largest liquid …

WATCH! NASA's Cassini spacecraft finds flooded canyons on Saturn's moon Titan
8 years, 7 months ago

WATCH! NASA's Cassini spacecraft finds flooded canyons on Saturn's moon Titan

India TV News  

Scientists have found that some of the steep-sided canyons on Saturn's largest moon Titan are flooded with liquid hydrocarbons, based on the radar observation by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. "The finding represents the first direct evidence of the presence of liquid-filled channels on Titan, as well as the first observation of canyons hundreds of meters deep," Xinhua quoted NASA as saying. …

NASA releases new composite image of Titan, showing Earth-like surface of Saturn's largest moon
9 years, 3 months ago

NASA releases new composite image of Titan, showing Earth-like surface of Saturn's largest moon

ABC  

NASA has released a composite image of Saturn's largest moon Titan, constructed from photos taken by the Cassini spacecraft, that shows the moon's surface instead of its hazy atmosphere. The image, which shows different levels of detail due to the different altitudes the individual pictures were taken from, was taken at near-infrared wavelengths that penetrated the thick orange haze of …

Titan's Rivers, Lakes, and Seas Mapped in Incredible Detail
11 years, 3 months ago

Titan's Rivers, Lakes, and Seas Mapped in Incredible Detail

Wired  

SAN FRANCISCO — Using data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, scientists have created this beautiful mosaic mapping the northern hemisphere of Saturn's moon Titan, which is full of rivers, lakes, and seas. "Titan is a very alien place that looks very Earth-like," said planetary scientist Stephen Wall, leader of Cassini's radar team, during a press conference here at the American Geophysical …

The Distant Shores Of Titan Beckon
12 years, 3 months ago

The Distant Shores Of Titan Beckon

NPR  

The Distant Shores Of Titan Beckon Your boots crunch on the icy surface as you climb the long, wind-swept dunes. Welcome to Titan, the solar system's second-largest moon and home to the Great Lakes of liquid methane. The direct exploration of our solar system via robot space probes has, however, shown us that moons matter too. In the outer parts …

Scientists discover 'tropical' lake of methane near equator of Saturn's largest moon Titan (not bad for a planet with a surface temperature of -279F)
12 years, 9 months ago

Scientists discover 'tropical' lake of methane near equator of Saturn's largest moon Titan (not bad for a planet with a surface temperature of -279F)

Daily Mail  

Scientists discover 'tropical' lake of methane near equator of Saturn's largest moon Titan It was previously believed that bodies of liquid could not exist at Titan's midsection because energy from the sun would cause pools to evaporate Scientists have discovered a methane-rich tropical lake and several ponds near the equator of Saturn's largest moon Titan. Lakes were previously spied near …

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