Moon secrets. (Earth/Space News).The fog is lifting for scientists who study the atmosphere of Titan, the largest of Saturn's 18 moons. It's the only moon in the solar system solar system, the sun and the surrounding planets, natural satellites, dwarf planets, asteroids, meteoroids, and comets that are bound by its gravity. The sun is by far the most massive part of the solar system, containing almost 99.9% of the system's total mass. with an atmosphere, a thin gas layer; in this case, a hazy swirl thick with nitrogen. For decades scientists have puzzled over why mysterious patterns form in the orange-brown soup shrouding shroud n. 1. A cloth used to wrap a body for burial; a winding sheet. 2. Something that conceals, protects, or screens: under a shroud of fog. 3. a. the 5,150 kilometer (3,200 mile)-wide moon. Now, NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. scientist Chris McKay may have cracked the mystery with a computer model that simulates the formation of the patterns: Fierce 350-mile-per-hour winds whip dense gases to both of Titan's poles (see diagram, right). But in that windswept wind·swept adj. Exposed to or swept by winds: windswept moors. windswept Adjective 1. smog lurks something even more exciting: clues to the origins of life on Earth. In Titan's atmosphere a masterful chemical reaction brews, possibly turning methane and nitrogen molecules into organic chemicals, carbon-based molecules found in all living things Living Things may refer to:
In what form do they exist on Titan and why? To find out, McKay will have to wait until 2004, when the NASA satellite Cassini transmits news from Titan. |
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