Shoreline for Titan?New radar images of Saturn's smog-shrouded moon Titan show signs of a shoreline cutting across the moon's southern hemisphere. Such a shoreline might have been sculpted sculpt v. sculpt·ed, sculpt·ing, sculpts v.tr. 1. To sculpture (an object). 2. To shape, mold, or fashion especially with artistry or precision: by liquid methane. Researchers have long speculated that methane, abundant in Titan's thick atmosphere and recently found in frozen form on its surface, rains down on the moon. Titan is The Titan I was the United States' first true multistage ICBM. It was the first in a series of Titan rockets, but was unique among them in that it used LOX and RP-1 as its propellants, while the later Titan versions all used storable fuels instead. too cold for water to be present as a liquid. High prevalence of liquid methane would support the notion that Titan is a chemical cousin of the early Earth, and contains a hydrocarbon brew much like the one from which life emerged on our planet. The apparent shoreline shown in the radar images, taken by the Cassini spacecraft on Sept. 7, during its eighth flyby fly·by also fly-by n. pl. fly·bys A flight passing close to a specified target or position, especially a maneuver in which a spacecraft or satellite passes sufficiently close to a body to make detailed observations without of Titan, divides a bright region from a dark one. Radar-bright areas on moons and planets tend to be rough, while radar-dark areas are smooth. The dark region is "where liquid or a wet surface has most likely been present, now or in the recent past,' says Cassini scientist Steven Wall of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory “JPL” redirects here. For other uses, see JPL (disambiguation). Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a NASA research center located in the cities of Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge, near Los Angeles, California, USA. in Pasadena, Calif. A shoreline would remain intact even after a liquid has receded, notes team member Jonathan Lunine Jonathan I. Lunine is an American planetary scientist and physicist. Lunine teaches at the University of Arizona, a world leader in space science. Having published more than 180 research papers, Lunine is at the forefront of research into planet formation, evolution, and of the University of Arizona (body, education) University of Arizona - The University was founded in 1885 as a Land Grant institution with a three-fold mission of teaching, research and public service. in Tucson. However, the darkest, smoothest parts of the images could indicate pools of liquid hydrocarbons now present on the moon, he adds. In the bright region, a network of channels-some of them 100 kilometers long-may indicate where liquid hydrocarbons have cut into Titan's icy crust.--R.C. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion