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 Titan is a pretty cool place, the largest moon of Saturn, it is the second largest moon in the solar system after Jupiter's moon Ganymede. Physically it's larger than the Planet Mercury(though not as massive) as well as all of the dwarf planets discovered so far (Pluto can' t catch a drat break) and makes our boring loving moon look like poo poo.  Of particular interest is the fact that it is the only satellite to have a major atmosphere, despite the place being way smaller than Earth it has more actual atmosphere, which means its way denser than our own and the only other rocky world it compares to is Venus. It's mostly composed of Nitrogen gas with a bit of Methane as well so it probably smells godawful, luckily if you're able to smell it then it means you're probably about to die since the temperature of the moon is -179 degrees Celsius. the low temperature is a result of it being ten times further out from the sun than earth as well as a reversed greenhouse effect from its reflective atmosphere (wrap it up global warmailures  ).The chilly temperature means water ice is hard as rock on the surface, but (combined with the thick atmosphere) it also means that huge amounts of Methane, Ethane and some other hydrocarbons can exist in a liquid form on the surface, in fact Titan is the only known body apart from Earth that is known to have liquid bodies on the surface, it even has a hydrological cycle similar to the water cycle on Earth except with what's basically natural gas instead of water. The surface clearly shows signs of extensive liquid erosion with rivers, seas and it even rains (due to the low gravity and thick atmosphere the rain droplets are huge and fall to the ground slowly)  (Radar image showing large liquid bodies of hydrocarbons on the surface of Titan, the largest, Kraken Mare on the bottom left, is the size of the Caspian sea!) Next to nothing was known about Titan until 2004 because it's so far away and has a thick, obscuring atmosphere, but since then a loving awesome probe program called Cassini-Huygens was able to reach Saturn and has done extensive studies, analyzing the atmosphere, orbit, structure and radar mapping large parts of the surface of Titan as part of its general studies of the Saturnian system. It was even able to put a lander (Huygens) on Titan's surface, here's its picture of what looks a bit like a riverbed:  Titan probably has some kind of geological processes going on beneath its surface, like cryovulcanism (basically water volcanoes), and there is some evidence for a massive underground ocean composed of water and maybe ammonia heated up by tidal forces from Saturn. Of course this ocean is probably ultra-salty, super high pressure, but nevertheless this raises the biggest question of all, could life exist on Titan? Obviously water based life can't exist on the surface but it might be locked within this ocean, of course we can't detect it from Earth so we'll have to return in the future with another probe that can drill through miles of ice if we hope to find anything interesting. HOWEVER it has been suggested that their is a possibility that life can exist without liquid water on the surface but which uses the massive amounts of hydrocarbons on the surface as a solvent instead (some info on this concept), this is super crazy stuff, but scientists have proposed a membrane model that is possible, while anomolies in Titan's atmosphere could be explained by the presence of such an exotic life form.  So thats Titan, now lets discuss what we'll do with all that sweet, sweet gas when we get there, how we can wipe out any existing alien microbes most efficiently, and maybe some of the other moons of Saturn and else where if people are interested, Except Rhea, gently caress Rhea.  Mimas, death Star knockoff.  Enceladus, making GBS threads out tons of water into space constantly  Iapetus, a half black walnut  Tethys, pretty boring  Dione, giant cliffs everywhere  Mommy Saturn, with her rings and a really weird looking giant Hexagon on the north pole. khwarezm fucked around with this message at 01:53 on Apr 22, 2015 |
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Apr 22, 2015 01:51
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How Saturn is devouring its moon: Stunning images reveal Enceladus' ghostly tendrils being sucked in by the gas giant's rings http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...nt-s-rings.html really cool pics
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Apr 22, 2015 01:54
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Titan is cooler than Europa.
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Apr 22, 2015 01:57
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im setting up a base on phobos and it'll have a really nice greenhouses so we can grow dank weed to ship to mars
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Apr 22, 2015 02:01
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Attempt no landing there
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Apr 22, 2015 02:04
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Mr. Pumroy posted:Attempt no landing there Oh.... poo poo.
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Apr 22, 2015 02:05
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i fuckin love titties
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Apr 22, 2015 02:07
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gently caress YOU OP DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO
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Apr 22, 2015 02:08
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can we get a higher resolution dione?
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Apr 22, 2015 02:09
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Ferid posted:gently caress YOU OP DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO Excuse me sir, are you unable to read the loving title? Do you know how long it will take to expunge that image from my memory? 
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Apr 22, 2015 02:15
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What's some info on the giant crater on Mimas, or Iapetus's weird shape. Those are pretty cool.
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Apr 22, 2015 02:15
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large collisions ofc, but the mountain band around Iapetus is believed to be the soft accretion of former rings, very possibly formed from said collision!
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Apr 22, 2015 02:18
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now THIS is podracing!
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Apr 22, 2015 02:19
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egg.jpg
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Apr 22, 2015 02:22
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Chinaman7000 posted:What's some info on the giant crater on Mimas, or Iapetus's weird shape. Those are pretty cool. Caveman death star's crater isn't actually that big, the moon itself is really tiny, its only like 400 km in diameter (its the smallest object that can sort itself into a good sphere under its own gravity), the crater is about 130 km across, the same size as the one which killed the dinosaurs here on earth. The impact probably did come close to shattering the moon though.
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Apr 22, 2015 02:25
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Titan having life would be really cool op.
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Apr 22, 2015 02:37
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can someone please deliver the spaceship part to titan, dudes been stranded there for a million years
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Apr 22, 2015 02:40
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open your eyes jet fuel cant melt steel beams
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Apr 22, 2015 02:41
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Lawman 0 posted:Titan having life would be really cool op. the prospect of titan having life that does not use water would blow the idea of life being really common wide the gently caress open, even if it's unlikely for us to ever find life outside our own solar system
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Apr 22, 2015 02:42
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Cubey posted:the prospect of titan having life that does not use water would blow the idea of life being really common wide the gently caress open, even if it's unlikely for us to ever find life outside our own solar system It would also effectively create an additional, massive 'goldilocks zone' in places far away enough from the sun for liquid hydrocarbons to exist.
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Apr 22, 2015 02:46
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Op are you into amateur astronomy at all? I was star gazing from my porch the other day and saw Jupiter, which suddenly inspired me to should buy a telescope and learn more about the solar system!
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Apr 22, 2015 02:46
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Hot Dog Day #82 posted:Op are you into amateur astronomy at all? I was star gazing from my porch the other day and saw Jupiter, which suddenly inspired me to should buy a telescope and learn more about the solar system! jupiter through even a mid-range, 300 dollar telescope is goddamn amazing, buy a telescope right now
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Apr 22, 2015 02:50
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Hot Dog Day #82 posted:Op are you into amateur astronomy at all? I was star gazing from my porch the other day and saw Jupiter, which suddenly inspired me to should buy a telescope and learn more about the solar system! Sadly no  . I live in a big city so light pollution is massive while just generally Ireland is cloudy place so its hopelessly unreliable. I don't have much money either. I sometimes used a binoculars when I was younger but mostly I keep track of those deep space probes and such on science sites. Besides what really reels me in is the search for life in the universe.
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Apr 22, 2015 02:52
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Cubey posted:jupiter through even a mid-range, 300 dollar telescope is goddamn amazing, buy a telescope right now Link me to one on Amazon that you like and I'll start doing some pre-purchase research!
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Apr 22, 2015 02:55
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Hot Dog Day #82 posted:Link me to one on Amazon that you like and I'll start doing some pre-purchase research! i've not bought a telescope in ages, so all i can really say is that tasco is what i've always used, first a refractor and now a much better reflector. so get a tasco reflector of some sort i guess.
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Apr 22, 2015 03:01
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khwarezm posted:It would also effectively create an additional, massive 'goldilocks zone' in places far away enough from the sun for liquid hydrocarbons to exist. Can you really call it a goldilocks zone once it stops being "juuuust right" for life that is frankly; similar to our own? It just breaks the metaphor for the catchy name a little bit. "This porridge is too hot. This porridge is too cold. This porridge is primarily composed of a mixture that is literally poisonous to my existence; though not to a hypothetical other being..... I say this is juuuuuuust right." Also I know goldilocks zone has way more to do with position from your star and presence of life-supporting materials- but that's not how the story went I think we should pick a different name.
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Apr 22, 2015 03:14
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reignofevil posted:Can you really call it a goldilocks zone once it stops being "juuuust right" for life that is frankly; similar to our own? Uh, I was just talking about the general concept of life, if this hypothetical sluggish Methane thing exists, not just life similar to use.
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Apr 22, 2015 03:20
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Apr 22, 2015 03:26
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did you go through my posting history and see that i was just talking about star control 2 in a different thread or what star control 2 goty all years
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Apr 22, 2015 03:32
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buy this for  and learn how telescopes work while you're at it (also it will help poor babby schoolkids learn the same).
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Apr 22, 2015 03:40
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khwarezm posted:Uh, I was just talking about the general concept of life, if this hypothetical sluggish Methane thing exists, not just life similar to use. It is not you that is the problem but scientific journalism. Go in peace friend 
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Apr 22, 2015 03:51
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lol methane and nitrogen are odorless gases ya silly op
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Apr 22, 2015 03:59
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Pastor Perineum posted:lol methane and nitrogen are odorless gases ya silly op drat, I don't know where I got the idea Methane had a smell.
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Apr 22, 2015 04:02
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Also my fav of Saturn's Moons, Pan. It's one of a few that actually orbit inside Saturn's Rings, and along with Atlas they sweep through the ring picking up dust, much like a deathfat collects spicy garlic chicken at your local buffet, and adds it to it's comically large equator.  I like to think it's like one huge planet-spanning sand dune 
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Apr 22, 2015 04:02
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Cubey posted:did you go through my posting history and see that i was just talking about star control 2 in a different thread or what Great minds simply think alike.
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Apr 22, 2015 04:40
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which planet has the moonn named rhianna OP
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Apr 22, 2015 05:38
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Space is a crazy place. Pictures from Titan's surface. These are exciting times.
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Apr 22, 2015 05:49
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Cubey posted:i've not bought a telescope in ages, so all i can really say is that tasco is what i've always used, first a refractor and now a much better reflector. so get a tasco reflector of some sort i guess. i'm literally using one of these http://james.as.arizona.edu/~psmith/60inch/ right now, you should get one (seriously i am and jupiter/saturn are awesome through it though I havent done that in years because we have the 2MASS CCD installed right now and are cruising for some sexy galaxy transients)
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Apr 22, 2015 06:06
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Just wanted to post here that I love Saturn's moons. Surface of Iapetus is awesome (it isn't differences in lighting that you're looking at here). 
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Apr 22, 2015 20:15
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that's no moon...
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Apr 22, 2015 20:18
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