Water Waves Discovered on Saturns Moon Titan

[The_King_of_Everything]

In recent years, astronomers have been astounded by just how much Saturn's moon Titan resembles Earth.

Like our planet, the surface of Titan is covered with lakes and seas; it has islands, mud, rain clouds, river channels and, according to some scientists, even rainbows.

And now the first hints of waves on the seas of the moon have now been revealed. If confirmed, this would be the first discovery of ocean waves beyond Earth.


This image shows the first flash of sunlight reflected off a lake on Saturn's moon Titan. The glint off a mirror-like surface is known as a specular reflection. It confirmed the presence of liquid in the moon's northern hemisphere, where lakes are more numerous and larger than those in the southern hemisphere

In 2012 and 2013, Nasa’s Cassini spacecraft captured several unusual glints of sunlight off the surface of Punga Mare, one of Titan’s hydrocarbon seas.

Those reflections may have been created by tiny ripples, around 2cm high, said Jason Barnes, a planetary scientist at the University of Idaho in Moscow.

Professor Barnes presented the findings at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, according to a report in Nature.

Researchers expect more waves to appear in the next few years, as winds pick up in Titan’s northern hemisphere as it emerges from winter and approaches spring.


A glint of light is seen in the same spot in this image taken by the Cassini probe in July 2012

TITAN: SATURN'S LARGEST MOON
With its thick atmosphere and organic-rich chemistry, Titan resembles a frozen version of Earth, several billion years ago, before life began pumping oxygen into our atmosphere.

Because Titan is less massive than Earth, its gravity doesn’t hold onto its gaseous envelope as tightly, so the atmosphere extends 370 miles (600km) into space.

As on Earth, the climate is driven mostly by changes in the amount of sunlight that come with the seasons, although the seasons on Titan are about seven Earth years long.

Titan's ‘water’ is liquid methane, CH4, better known on Earth as natural gas. Regular Earth-water, H2O, would be frozen solid on Titan where the surface temperature is 140°C (290°F) below zero.

With Titan's low gravity and dense atmosphere, methane raindrops could grow twice as large as Earth's raindrops. As well as this, they would fall more slowly, drifting down like snowflakes. Scientists think it rains perhaps only every few decades.

Knowing how the waves form will help scientists to better understand the conditions in Titan’s lakes and seas.

A Nasa mission proposal, which was beaten by a proposal to return to Mars, would have sent a probe to float in one of Titan’s lakes.

‘If we drop a lake lander in there, is it going to splat instead of splash?’ Professor Barnes asked at the conference.

Titan's ‘water’ is liquid methane, CH4, better known on Earth as natural gas.

Regular Earth-water, H2O, would be frozen solid on Titan where the surface temperature is -140°C (-290°F).

The idea that Titan is a wet world with its own alien waters is widely accepted, but the lack of waves has stumped scientists for years.

On Earth, bodies of water are rarely still.

Breezes blowing across the surface cause waves to ripple and break; raindrops striking sea surfaces also provide some roughness.

Yet on Titan, the lakes seemed eerily smooth, with no discernible wave action down to the millimetre scale, according to radar data from Cassini.


Centered on the north pole, this map shows Titan's bodies of methane and ethane in blue and black. Roughly heart-shaped, the lake above and right of the pole is Ligeia Mare. Just below the north pole is Punga Mare. This is where Cassini spied several unusual glints of sunlight off the surface in 2012 and 2013

Titan’s gravity, which is only 1/7th that of Earth, also provides very little resistance to wave motion.

Researchers had previously toyed with several explanations, including that the lakes may be frozen or covered with a tar-like substance that damps wave motion.

If waves appear over the next few years, Cassini should be able to detect them. Radar reflections from wavy lake surfaces can tell researchers a great deal.

Wave dimensions, for instance, may reveal the viscosity of the underlying fluid and, thus, its chemical composition.

Also, wave speeds would track the speed of the overlying winds, providing an independent check of Titan climate models.

Alex Hayes, a planetary scientist on the Cassini radar team, is excited about ‘bringing oceanography to another world. All we need now,’ he said, ‘are some rough seas.'


Researchers expect more waves to appear in the next few years, as winds pick up in Titan's northern hemisphere as it emerges from winter and approaches spring. Pictured here is Saturn, with its giant moon Titan in the foreground

http://www.miaminewsday.com/national/49103-saturn-s-moon-titan-could-have-waves.html

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

lol, this is how you know I used to be a Space nerd as a kid.

I know it's probably impossible for several lifetimes, but I would absolutely love it if in the future we invented some mean ass gravitational beam and yanked Titan and Enceladus(a much smaller moon in Saturn's moon system that has geysers that shoot water in the air) into the orbit between Earth and Mars and see what would happen to them with the added warmth. I would be absolutely geeked to see what would happen if Titan were transferred into the habitable zone, had Enceladus as its moon, and shared the good zone alongside us, perhaps it'd turn into a mini-Earth since it has a lot of shyt that early Earth had before the oxygen, maybe it'd be more like Mars and lose the thickness in its atmosphere because of its small size. Still it'd be cool as hell to see.

 

[Chris.B]

Titan is too cold to have liquid water....

better chance looking at Europa...it may have liquid water underneath all the ice.

 

[MewTwo]

I honestly believe the advances we've made with space exploration has been way too slow. We have the funds to build better robots, satellites, etc. But instead we're engaging in fake wars and....you know what nevermind. This post will probably be moved to 'Free Speech' if I speak on this further.

My main point is that I think it's unfair that we have a government monopoly on space exploration. If we left this to the private sector we'd be colonizing Europa by now.

 

[ltheghost]

I believe that the government and private corporations are spoon feeding us information at a snail's pace. And we are not getting the whole story.

 

[88m3]

I believe that the government and private corporations are spoon feeding us information at a snail's pace. And we are not getting the whole story.

Yeah. When I read the thread title I thought it said weaves.

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

lol, this is how you know I used to be a Space nerd as a kid.

I know it's probably impossible for several lifetimes, but I would absolutely love it if in the future we invented some mean ass gravitational beam and yanked Titan and Enceladus(a much smaller moon in Saturn's moon system that has geysers that shoot water in the air) into the orbit between Earth and Mars and see what would happen to them with the added warmth. I would be absolutely geeked to see what would happen if Titan were transferred into the habitable zone, had Enceladus as its moon, and shared the good zone alongside us, perhaps it'd turn into a mini-Earth since it has a lot of shyt that early Earth had before the oxygen, maybe it'd be more like Mars and lose the thickness in its atmosphere because of its small size. Still it'd be cool as hell to see.

You tryin to mess up the galaxy Yeah it'd be cool as hell but I don't think that's something anyone should ever try to do. I'd be interested in seeing the exact orbital ramifications though.

I honestly believe the advances we've made with space exploration has been way too slow. We have the funds to build better robots, satellites, etc. But instead we're engaging in fake wars and....you know what nevermind. This post will probably be moved to 'Free Speech' if I speak on this further.

My main point is that I think it's unfair that we have a government monopoly on space exploration. If we left this to the private sector we'd be colonizing Europa by now.

NASA is severely underfunded (on the books anyway). Black budget programs are a different story but a story we may never know about.

BTW @DEAD7

 

[PikaDaDon]

You tryin to mess up the galaxy Yeah it'd be cool as hell but I don't think that's something anyone should ever try to do. I'd be interested in seeing the exact orbital ramifications though.



NASA is severely underfunded (on the books anyway). Black budget programs are a different story but a story we may never know about.

BTW @DEAD7

To start with a government monopoly or any monopoly reduces the quality and size of the talent pool working on it. For when there is a monopoly, salaries are limited: and thus the best brains will work in a different fields.

Governments tend to focus on military aspects, and thus quality of life for civilians and profitability is not the focus. And yes profit is a good thing, for without profit space exploration will not be self-founding and sustainable.

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

Also, I think "Water Waves" is a bit misleading, seeing as though their "water" is liquid methane.

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

To start with a government monopoly or any monopoly reduces the quality and size of the talent poor working on it. For when there is a monopoly, salaries are limited: and thus the best brains will work in a different fields.

Governments tend to focus on military aspects, and thus quality of life for civilians and profitability is not the focus. And yes profit is a good thing, for without profit space exploration will not be self-founding and sustainable.

Certainly. I'm sure the efforts will speed up dramatically when it becomes feasible to mine other planets for resources.

 

[PikaDaDon]

Certainly. I'm sure the efforts will speed up dramatically when it becomes feasible to mine other planets for resources.

Like China is trying to do. But last I heard their rover was stuck.

I think China has the potential to outpace America in space exploration. Sadly they waste their money on building ghost cities for artificial GDP growth. Before the "China bubble" bursts they should at least spend money on science and technology.

 

[NkrumahWasRight Is Wrong]

Like China is trying to do. But last I heard their rover was stuck.

I think China has the potential to outpace America in space exploration. Sadly they waste their money on building ghost cities for artificial GDP growth. Before the "China bubble" bursts they should atleast spend money on science and technology.

NASA and the US Govt should get on that grind before it's too late. Theyre already up to and over their eyeballs in debt so they might as well try and do this, to, in the long term, build up holdings in resources which can put money into the coffers. Private sector isn't about it yet because there is a high probability of sunk costs and massive losses. The US Gov't doesn't care about that (even though they should).

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

You tryin to mess up the galaxy Yeah it'd be cool as hell but I don't think that's something anyone should ever try to do. I'd be interested in seeing the exact orbital ramifications though.

lmfaooooo, I'm on some Galactus type shyt.

I kinda figured between Earth and Mars could work since thats more than the space between Earth and Venus. I'd be more nervous about getting the orbit exactly right so it don't end up flying into Earth or knocking another planet out of orbit or somethin. But goddamn that'd be so cool to see, potentially a whole new Earth and a cooler moon.

 

[wire28]

I can't wait to move there

 

[Hulk Hogan]

My main point is that I think it's unfair that we have a government monopoly on space exploration.

WE DON'T, BROTHER!