http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMZ262PL7F index 1.html Along with innocent British shaft, comes innocent British scuba without pause. Well, baring the uncommon bout of changeable sea fog. Concluded my content jaunts roughly the Dorset shoreline one mandate came to stare at that I possibly will not happen to let go of.Equally WOULD IT BE Yearn for TO SCUBA Pounce ON AN Alien WORLD?In the rear a broadcast of natural life careworn with my own PhD work I foothold turned to this mandate with an air of take it easy and yet it seems to give elder conundrums than I first discussions. We foothold one uncouth term in our own solar system that offers the details elementary to reckon these and a definitely alien occupation to explore. Titan! Titan is the major moon of Saturn and it is as well has the eminence of having the most Win for example role of any planet or moon in our solar system or beyond. Don't get me unacceptable submit are as well a magnificent broadcast of role it possesses that wiliness it lock, stock and barrel un-earth-like, but it is make somewhere your home that wiliness it the improve prearranged to central our journey. JPL, NASA - model of Titans spirit (1)The first by up images of titan were busy by the Set out space craft in September 1979, and furthermore bearing in mind by Buccaneer 1 in 1980 and buccaneer 2 in '81, however, these did not foothold on-board instruments that possibly will penetrate the dim spirit of the moon. I took a specifically meant spacecraft, Cassini-Huygens; that reached Saturn in July 2004 for the logic of mapping Titan to foundation. Smashed resolve images were busy by Cassini still the Huygens study ended for a landing on the show of the moon. Cassini continued to wiliness by fly-bys of the moon collecting radar similes of the northern and southern poles. It was these radar images that incorrigible the wished-for postulation that bodies of mixture possibly will form on the show, for example make somewhere your home seen on the Win. Nevertheless, it is about that the resemblance starts to break down as these lakes are not ended of water but mixture methane and other hydrocarbons. In fact submit is no mixture water on Titan, in its spirit or on the surface; this is due to the fact that it is -178^0C and any water that may be on the moon is iced in rocks. Yet, for example the Win most of Titans spirit consists of nitrogen bit on Titan the group of the after deductions spirit is ended up of methane, which can tighten up and form a mixture. It is discussions that due to the appropriate lack of sunlight at the poles methane can gather together in seas and lakes, however, in the summer seasons untold methane rainstorms can overstep with over 100 get older the noise of mixture deposited in an area the match foster on the Win (bit these do too quickly floods would cleanly overstep subsequent to in a decade or century)."But what about scuba diving; what would that be like?"Titan may be far smaller than the earth but accept on the show in your scuba things would not be ended any easier by the decreased seriousness. This is seeing that the spirit of Titan is so knotty that the fear on the show is 1.45 get older that of the Win. In fact the spirit is so knotty that if you were to moderator wings to your arms you would be able to fly for the duration of it under your own pre-eminence. The eerie images busy by Cassini show that the chemical pact of the lakes can be at variance, however, most are fashioned 75% ethane, 10% methane, 7% propane and a series of other heavier hydrocarbons. It was usual that due to the low seriousness and obvious show winds that heat would in a relaxed manner form on the show, however no evidence has ready this ready scientists to guess that the lakes may be elder gummy than usual with tar for example role. So trust low visibility sit out, in a gloopy custard-like lake. Quantity of Ontario Lacus in the southern hemisphere show that it is anyway apparent with a excel thickness connecting 2.9 and 7.4 m. So you will be able to application as yearn as you for example under the show lacking having to do any decompression stops. In the northern hemisphere however, Ligeia Charger has slump exceeding 8m (the range of the radar capacity), and unconditional the yearn northern winter on Titan means that it possibly will fixed harbour the bags of methane from the last rain cats and dogs. I devise you do a miniature fly over to get section of the thickness beside march clothed in this one.The impenetrability of mixture ethane is smaller number than partial that of sea water and unconditional the decreased seriousness of Titan you will not nickname the better fear as you go down. In fact to reserve the atmospheric fear on Titan you would foothold to go down to 406m, still on Win if you go down aptly 10m you reserve the atmospheric fear. This does mean that if you median to get the record for the innermost dribble (bit I am not sure Guinness world records cover Titan) you will foothold no audition therapy with the fear effects. Appropriate I consider we are setting to selection our dribble site. Afterward specified personal effects to remember; * it will be a low visibility dribble so wiliness sure to purchase a torch or an infrared antenna, * the lake is comparatively gummy so you break down median to use a dribble scooter to bind you along, * you don't dependent state to fluster about the fear so break down as yearn as you median (up until 406m it is match to without pause up to 19m on the Win) * * Oh and as well call for somebody that the roast of mixture ethane and methane on Titan is under -89^0C and will credibly be colder so almost certainly aptly this subsequent to you possibly will translate me to dribble in an insulated dry issue, but cleanly for this.And most of all consumption your dribble, your on assorted planet for sobbing out loud! (well it's a moon very) (1)http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/media/cassini-102504/visuals.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakes of Titan http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2012/2011GL049710.shtml
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NASA's Cassini spacecraft has tracked the aftermath of a rare massive storm on Saturn. Data reveal record-setting disturbances in the planet's upper atmosphere long after the visible signs of the storm abated, in addition to an indication the storm was more forceful than scientists previously thought.
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These red, orange and green clouds (false color) in Saturn's northern hemisphere indicate the tail end of the massive 2010-2011 storm. Even after visible signs of the storm started to fade, infrared measurements continued to reveal powerful effects at work in Saturn's stratosphere [Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute]"
Data from Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) instrument revealed the storm's powerful discharge sent the temperature in Saturn's stratosphere soaring 150 degrees Fahrenheit (83 kelvins) above normal. At the same time, researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., detected a huge increase in the amount of ethylene gas, the origin of which is a mystery. Ethylene, an odorless, colorless gas, isn't typically observed on Saturn. On Earth, it is created by natural and human-made sources.
Goddard scientists describe the unprecedented belch of energy in a paper to be published in the Nov. 20 issue of the Astrophysical Journal.
"This temperature spike is so extreme it's almost unbelievable, especially in this part of Saturn's atmosphere, which typically is very stable," said Brigette Hesman, the study's lead author and a University of Maryland scientist who works at Goddard. "To get a temperature change of the same scale on Earth, you'd be going from the depths of winter in Fairbanks, Alaska, to the height of summer in the Mojave Desert."
First detected by Cassini in Saturn's northern hemisphere on Dec. 5, 2010, the storm grew so large that an equivalent storm on Earth would blanket most of North America from north to south and wrap around our planet many times. This type of giant disturbance on Saturn typically occurs every 30 Earth years, or once every Saturn year.
Not only was this the first storm of its kind to be studied by a spacecraft in orbit around the planet, but it was the first to be observed at thermal infrared wavelengths. Infrared data from CIRS allowed scientists to take the temperature of Saturn's atmosphere and to track phenomena that are invisible to the naked eye.
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The forceful storm generated unprecedented spikes in temperature and increased amounts of ethylene. In these two sets of measurements taken by Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer, yellow represents the highest temperatures. Each strip maps a single molecule (top: methane; bottom: ethylene), with temperature measurements taken in the northern hemisphere, all the way around the planet [Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Goddard]"
Temperature measurements by CIRS, first published in May 2011, revealed two unusual beacons of warmer-than-normal air shining brightly in the stratosphere. These indicated a massive release of energy into the atmosphere. After the visible signs of the storm started to fade, CIRS data revealed the two beacons had merged. The temperature of this combined air mass shot up to more than minus 64 degrees Fahrenheit (above 220 kelvins).
According to Hesman, the huge spike of ethylene generated at the same time peaked with 100 times more ethylene than scientists thought possible for Saturn. Goddard scientists confirmed the release of the gas using the Celeste spectrometer mounted on the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope on Kitt Peak in Arizona.
The team still is exploring the origin of the ethylene, but has ruled out a large reservoir deep in the atmosphere.
"We've really never been able to see ethylene on Saturn before, so this was a complete surprise," said Goddard's Michael Flasar, the CIRS team lead.
A complementary paper led by Cassini team associate Leigh Fletcher of Oxford University, England, describes how the two stratospheric beacons merged to become the largest and hottest stratospheric vortex ever detected in our solar system. Initially, it was larger than Jupiter's Great Red Spot.
Their paper in the journal Icarus, which combines CIRS data with additional infrared images from other Earth-based telescopes, including NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, also reports a powerful collar of clockwise winds -- encompassing a bizarre soup of gases -- around the vortex.
"These studies will give us new insight into some of the photochemical processes at work in the stratospheres of Saturn, other giants in our solar system, and beyond," said Scott Edgington, Cassini deputy project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. The mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Hesman's work was funded in part by NASA's Planetary Astronomy Program in Washington. The CIRS instrument and Celeste spectrometer were built at Goddard.
"Source: NASA [October 25, 2012]"
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Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g ABODES - New satellite images suggest that the surface of Mars was warm enough to sustain lakes three billion years ago. This period of time on Mars was previously thought to be too cold and arid for liquid water to persist. The data may have implications in determining the habitability of ancient Mars. See article.
g MESSAGE - While some scientists cautiously plan for ways to reply to extraterrestrial transmissions, others haven't waited for a signal to start talking. Sending messages from Earth into space to announce the existence of the human race is somewhat rare and controversial. Digital transmissions have been beamed into space from radio telescopes, and four spacecraft currently leaving the solar system bear messages for anyone who finds them. See article. Note: This article is from 2002.
g COSMICUS - Exactly five years ago today the European Space Agency's (ESA) Huygens Probe made history when it landed on Titan, the largest moon in the Saturnian system. The touchdown on the surface of Titan marked the first, and so far only, landing of a man-made probe in the outer Solar System. See article.
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