* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Titan

Blobrana · L

Des révélations sur l'origine de Titan et de son atmosphère
La sonde Cassini-Huygens (NASA-ESA) a révélé l'existence d'un déficit de certains composés volatils dans l'atmosphère de Titan. Un scénario d'évolution pourrait expliquer ces déficits. Les planétésimaux à l'origine de Titan auraient subit un réchauffement durant leur migration dans la sub-nébuleuse de Saturne entraînant une évacuation du monoxyde de carbone et de l'argon. Krypton et argon auraient été piégés, soit dans la nébuleuse primitive pendant la formation des planétésimaux à l'origine de Titan, soit dans le sol de Titan. Ce résultat obtenu par une équipe pluridisciplinaire conduite par un chercheur de l'Institut UTINAM (Observatoire de Besançon, INSU-CNRS, Université de Franche-Comté) est à paraître dans la revue "The Astrophysical Journal".

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Spanish scientists confirm the existence of electric activity in Titan
Physicists of the University of Granada and the University of Valencia (Spain) have developed a proceeding to analyse specific data sent by the Huygens probe from Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, proving "in an unequivocal way" that there is natural electric activity in its atmosphere. The scientific community thinks that there is a higher probability that organic molecules precursors to life could form in those planets or satellites which have an atmosphere with electric storms.

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Blobrana · L

Spanish scientists confirm the existence of electric activity in Titan
Physicists of the University of Granada and the University of Valencia (Spain) have developed a proceeding to analyse specific data sent by the Huygens probe from Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, proving "in an unequivocal way" that there is natural electric activity in its atmosphere. The scientific community thinks that there is a higher probability that organic molecules precursors to life could form in those planets or satellites which have an atmosphere with electric storms.

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Blobrana · L

Space fly-by reveals new insights into Titan's life
Cracking the secrets of the atmosphere of Titan, Saturns mysterious moon, and how planetary atmospheres evolve, have come a step closer after evaluation of data from a successful fly-by of its surface by the Cassini spacecraft.
Researchers and engineers on the Cassini project, which includes teams from UCL Space and Climate Physics and UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL), were also given a glimpse of how Titan, which has no magnetic field of its own, holds onto remnants of Saturns magnetic field as it caught the big moon on one of its excursions outside Saturn's magnetosphere.

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-- Edited by Blobrana at 12:41, 2008-10-10

Blobrana · L

This image of Titan was taken by the Cassini spaceprobe on September 20, 2008, when it was approximately 1,560,171 kilometres away.

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Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

The image was taken using the CL1 and CB3 filters.

Blobrana · L

Title: Discovery of lake-effect clouds on Titan
Authors: M.E. Brown, E.L. Schaller, H.G. Roe, C. CHen, J. Roberts, R.H. Brown, K.H. Baines, R.N. Clark

Images from instruments on Cassini as well as from telescopes on the ground reveal the presence of sporadic small-scale cloud activity in the cold late-winter north polar of Saturn's large moon Titan. These clouds lie underneath the previously discovered uniform polar cloud attributed to a quiescent ethane cloud at ~40 km and appear confined to the same latitudes as those of the largest known hydrocarbon lakes at the north pole of Titan. The physical properties of these clouds suggest that they are due to methane convection and condensation. Such convection has not been predicted for the cold winter pole, but can be caused by a process in many ways analogous to terrestrial lake-effect clouds. The lakes on Titan are a key connection between the surface and the meteorological cycle.

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Blobrana · L

This radar image of channels on Titan at the edge of Xanadu was taken from the Cassini flyby on May 28, 2008.
The image shows channels some which are 5 kilometres wide, that appear to flow from the rough region of Xanadu. The channels might be active rivers carrying methane or debris, or they might be dry riverbeds similar to earthly arroyos.

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Credit: NASA/JPL

Blobrana · L

Electrical Activity On Saturn's Moon Titan Confirmed By Spanish Scientists
Physicists from the University of Granada and University of Valencia have developed a procedure for analysing specific data sent by the Huygens probe from Titan, the largest of Saturns moons, unequivocally proving that there is natural electrical activity in its atmosphere. The scientific community believe that the probability of organic molecules, precursors of life, being formed is higher on planets or moons which have an atmosphere with electrical storms.

http://www.plataformasinc.es/

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