The most insightful comments on all subjects will be published daily in dedicated articles. This density-driven stratification can occur on Titan as well; however it happens due to the amount of atmospheric nitrogen that Titan's surface liquids can dissolve, rather than the liquids warming up and expanding.

There’s no other place like Titan in the solar system. This mirror-like reflection, known as the specular point, is in the south of Titan's largest sea, Kraken Mare, just north of an island archipelago separating two separate parts of the sea. “It’s wild. It will become the first vehicle to fly its entire science payload to multiple locations for repeated and targeted access to surface materials. Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Create a commenting name to join the debate, There are no Independent Premium comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts, There are no comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts. Titan is primarily composed of ice and rocky material, which is likely differentiated into a rocky core surrounded by various layers of ice, including a crust of ice I h and a subsurface layer of ammonia-rich liquid water. In a recent study published by Astronomy and Astrophysics, Neish—a member of Western’s Institute for Earth and Space Exploration (Western Space)—and her collaborators at the European Space Agency (ESA) used advanced imaging technology to investigate Titan. You can unsubscribe at any time and we'll never share your details to third parties. Your feedback will go directly to Science X editors. The image suggests that one of Titan's seas was once much larger . From the image, scientists understand that the Kraken Mare sea was larger at some point in the past, but has since evaporated. Shot by Nasa’s Cassini spacecraft in late August, the image shows sun light reflecting off Titan's swirling surface. Kashmira Gander @kashmiragander. Are you sure you want to delete this comment? NASA pushes back its Dragonfly mission to Saturn's moon Titan, to 2027. ( Log Out /  googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1449240174198-2'); }); Stratification occurs when different parts of a lake have different densities, with the less dense layer floating atop the denser layer. An artist’s rendering shows a Dragonfly quadcopter landing on the surface… "Earth is the most Titan-like planet known. From Titan's surface, Saturn subtends an arc of 5.09 degrees and would appear 11.4 times larger in the sky than the Moon from Earth. Orbiting around Ida was a tiny moon that was named Dactyl. It’s not unlike the Earth in that way. And when the image was captured, the sun’s glint was so bright that it saturated the detector of Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) instrument.

Nestled deep within the asteroid belt is the asteroid 243 Ida. Lakes on Saturn's moon - Titan - composed of methane, ethane, and nitrogen rather than water, experience density-driven stratification, forming layers similar to lakes on Earth. Please continue to respect all commenters and create constructive debates. This is revealed by the southern portion of the Kraken mare - the area surrounding the specular feature toward upper left – which has a “bathtub ring” made of material left behind after the methane and ethane liquid evaporated – similarly to the saline crust which remains on a salt flat. In spite of its frigid surface temperatures of around 90 Kelvin (-298 degrees Fahrenheit), Titan's ability to host rain, rivers, and lakes naturally draws comparisons with our home planet. On Titan, atmospheric processes bury the ice under a layer of sand-like organic material. Catherine Neish is counting the days until her space launch. Click here to sign in with Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. The unaided human eye would see nothing but haze. One of the most unexplored places in the Solar System is our own oceans. Ice Discharge In The North Pacific Set Off Series Of Climate Events During The Last Ice Age (Nature), Pathogens In The Mouth Induce Oral Cancer (Oncology / Medicine), https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2020/09/aa37866-20/aa37866-20.html, Researchers Developed A System That Can Turn Words Into Molecules (Chemistry), New Process Turns Paper Manufacturing Waste Into Valuable Chemicals (Chemistry), Researchers Turn To Trees To Determine If Multicellular Life On Exoplanets Exist (Biology), Scientists Reported The Discovery Of Shortest-Timescale Microlensing Event Till Date (Planetary Science), ESA Releases Solar Orbiter’s First Science Data (Astronomy). It has methane rain and streams cutting through the surface and organic sand getting blown around. Because liquid methane is less dense than liquid ethane, it has been long assumed that Titan's methane would generally float atop its liquid ethane. Unlike the Earth, rather than using water, Titan’s cycle is based on methane, often found in gas cookers here on Earth. Our journalists will try to respond by joining the threads when they can to create a true meeting of independent Premium. This document is subject to copyright. FP Trending Sep 29, 2020 09:27:20 IST.

It is difficult to assess what lies beneath Titan’s hazy atmosphere—unless of course, you have a multi-million dollar Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer like ESA’s, which collected both light visible to humans and infrared light of slightly longer wavelengths during NASA’s Cassini mission. Lakes on Saturn's moon Titan, composed of methane, ethane, and nitrogen rather than water, experience density driven stratification, forming layers similar to lakes on Earth. When viewed from the right angle it appears that the Death Star is in orbit around Saturn. Why not float a dirigible through one of the oldest known storms in the Solar System. Thus, Titan is an interesting place to look for life. Are you sure you want to mark this comment as inappropriate? Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Like Titan, Earth has dynamic lakes. The content is provided for information purposes only. Rhea is the second-largest moon of Saturn and has a diameter of around 950 miles. It reveals the labyrinth of channels that connect Kraken Mare to another large sea, Ligeia Mare. You can also choose to be emailed when someone replies to your comment. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Medical Xpress covers all medical research advances and health news, Tech Xplore covers the latest engineering, electronics and technology advances, Science X Network offers the most comprehensive sci-tech news coverage on the web. Le Gall et al., ‘The chemical composition of impact craters on Titan’, A&A 641, A16 (2020) DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202037866 link: https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2020/09/aa37866-20/aa37866-20.html, Provided by University of Western Ontario. New study finds the mix that makes Titan's lakes spew nitrogen bubbles, Two groups demonstrate designs for electrocaloric cooling that change temperature under an electric field, IonQ announces development of next-generation quantum computer, Evidence of a cat recognizing and mimicking human behavior, Lidar study suggests carbon storage losses greater than thought in Amazon due to losses at edge of forests, A new way to automate sequences of chemical reactions, Red shift / Blue Shift - Gravity Well Roundtrip, Observations and telescope/microscope design questions, Our Beautiful Universe - Photos and Videos. Stunning Nasa image reveals surface of Saturn's Titan moon. In Titan’s dry equatorial regions, the sand piles up; but at higher, wetter latitudes, surface streams erode the sand away. Similar to the Earth it supports a full weather cycle. In the past, Cassini has captured separate images of the polar seas and the sun shining against them (as show below), but this is the first time both have been seen together in the same view. Ligeia Mare itself is partially covered in its northern reaches by a bright, arrow-shaped complex of clouds. What Mechanism Creates the Jet Emanating From a Quasar? PROVIDING YOU "TRUE" KNOWLEDGE, IS OUR "ONLY" PRIORITY.. Catherine Neish is counting the days until her space launch. Saturn’s Moon Titan is home to a nice thick atmosphere.