* Astronomy

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RE: Titan

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Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

This image of Titan was taken by the Cassini spaceprobe on the 12th December, 2009 when it was approximately 99,147 kilometres away.
The image was taken using the CL1 and CB3 filters.

Blobrana · L

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Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

This image of Titan was taken by the Cassini spaceprobe on the 12th December, 2009 when it was approximately 97,105 kilometres away.
The image was taken using the CL1 and CB3 filters.

Blobrana · L

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Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

This image of Titan was taken by the Cassini spaceprobe on the 12th December, 2009 when it was approximately 86,555 kilometres away.
The image was taken using the CL1 and CB3 filters.

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Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

This image of Titan was taken by the Cassini spaceprobe on the 12th December, 2009 when it was approximately 176,485 kilometres away.
The image was taken using the CB3 and CL2 filters.

Blobrana · L

When it flies by Saturn's largest moon, Titan, this weekend, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will study the interactions between the magnetic field of Saturn and Titan. The flyby will take place the evening of Dec. 11 California time, or shortly after midnight Universal Time on Dec. 12.
As Titan ploughs through the magnetic bubble, or magnetosphere around Saturn, it creates a wake in the magnetic field lines coming away from the planet. This flyby will allow Cassini's fields and particles instruments to study that wake about 5,200 kilometres away from the moon, a relatively unexamined region.
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Title: An asymmetric distribution of lakes on Titan as a possible consequence of orbital forcing
Authors: O. Aharonson, A. G. Hayes, J. I. Lunine, R. D. Lorenz, M. D. Allison & C. Elachi

A set of lakes filled or partially filled with liquid hydrocarbon and empty lake basins have been discovered in the high latitudes of Saturn's moon Titan1. These features were mapped by the radar instrument on the Cassini orbiter. Here we quantify the distribution of the lakes and basins, and show a pronounced hemispheric asymmetry in their occurrence. Whereas significant fractions of the northern high latitudes are covered by filled and empty lakes, the same latitudes in the southern hemisphere are largely devoid of such features. We propose that in addition to known seasonal changes, the observed difference in lake distribution may be caused by an asymmetry in the seasons on Titan that results from the eccentricity of Saturn's orbit around the Sun. We suggest that the consequent hemispheric difference in the balance between evaporation and precipitation could lead to an accumulation of lakes in one of Titan's hemispheres. This effect would be modulated by, and reverse with, dynamical variations in the orbit. We propose that much like in the Earth's glacial cycles, the resulting vigorous hydrologic cycle has a period of tens of thousands of years and leads to active geologic surface modification in the polar latitudes.

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Caltech Scientists Explain Puzzling Lake Asymmetry on Titan

Researchers at Caltech suggest that the eccentricity of Saturn's orbit around the sun may be responsible for the unusually uneven distribution of lakes over the northern and southern polar regions of the planet's largest moon, Titan. A paper describing the theory appears in the November 29th advance online edition of Nature Geoscience.
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Blobrana · L

Icy moon's lakes brim with hearty soup for life
Saturn's frigid moon Titan may be friendlier to life than previously thought. New calculations suggest Titan's hydrocarbon lakes are loaded with acetylene, a chemical some scientists say could serve as food for cold-resistant organisms.

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Titan's lakes