Mystery object in lake on Saturn's moon Titan intrigues scientists

a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

I tried superimposing pictures of the before and after. The only difference I see is the angular shift of Cassini as it flies over Titan. You can do a stereo view of this, but just to JPL/NASA to get the images.

originally posted by: RUFFREADY
This picture (Titan surface) intrigues me. That weird tube formation to the left that makes a perfect angle.. "L" very weird..

I have the whole descent video from the University of Arizona in one of my hard drives. I really want to post it here on ATS. It show exactly the atmospheric data and parachute angle when the Huygens probe was descending.

originally posted by: raymundoko
a reply to: Kratos40

To me it looks like an insane tide. You can see more land appear in the island on the bottom left as well as just below the newly visible island. I am guessing once they figure out the high and low tides caused by Saturn they will better understand what they are seeing.

Edit: Looks like others beat me to it, but it makes the most sense to me.

So several of you have suggested tides have washed over this piece of land. So we can assume then that we have decent sized waves and can confirm that the dark areas of Titan are indeed liquid of some sort. Right?

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: KnowledgeSeeker81
Tides indeed. Just as it is tides which would keep the waters of Europa liquid beneath its sheet of ice. Tides which cause the rocks to grind and produce heat.

There was an article a couple of months ago about Cassini able to detect small ripples present on one of the lakes. I will have to look for this. Maybe this is related:
Waves Discovered on Saturn’s Moon Titan?

newswatch.nationalgeographic.com...

originally posted by: Kratos40

originally posted by: raymundoko
a reply to: Kratos40

To me it looks like an insane tide. You can see more land appear in the island on the bottom left as well as just below the newly visible island. I am guessing once they figure out the high and low tides caused by Saturn they will better understand what they are seeing.

Edit: Looks like others beat me to it, but it makes the most sense to me.

So several of you have suggested tides have washed over this piece of land. So we can assume then that we have decent sized waves and can confirm that the dark areas of Titan are indeed liquid of some sort. Right?

Tides don't necessarily imply big waves. But yes it is liquid.

a reply to: Kratos40

It is well known that titan has large areas of liquid on it's surface.

en.wikipedia.org...(moon)

and the only object other than Earth for which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found

a reply to: Kratos40

To me, it looks more like an outgassing of bubbles, or some methane ice that got detached from the bottom, surfaced, and melted or evaporated.

originally posted by: Kratos40

I have the whole descent video from the University of Arizona in one of my hard drives. I really want to post it here on ATS. It show exactly the atmospheric data and parachute angle when the Huygens probe was descending.

www.nasa.gov...

the descent film can be seen here so it'll save you the hassle of trying to upload it.

originally posted by: peter vlar

originally posted by: Kratos40

I have the whole descent video from the University of Arizona in one of my hard drives. I really want to post it here on ATS. It show exactly the atmospheric data and parachute angle when the Huygens probe was descending.

www.nasa.gov...

the descent film can be seen here so it'll save you the hassle of trying to upload it.

Thank you! It is a big file to upload anyway.

a reply to: Kratos40

Not a problem at all. I had the link bookmarked already so it's not like I went out of my way lol. It is definitely a huge file and I thought it would be interesting to at least a few people so hopefully I'm correct.

There are a lot of hydrocarbons and minerals on Titan. It would make for a good space mining operation.

A portion of the little archipelago near the land in question is also gone. This suggests to me that whatever liquid is there has increased in its level. Like tides or something. This increase was enough to completely submerge the missing portion, while also covering part of the archipelago that sticks out. If you look do you see how the jutting portion is almost flat along the side? It was not like that in the before picture.

I think your avatar has completely stole the show here, Kratos40.

originally posted by: Kratos40
a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

I tried superimposing pictures of the before and after. The only difference I see is the angular shift of Cassini as it flies over Titan. You can do a stereo view of this, but just to JPL/NASA to get the images.

Equally possible. Either way, different angle, or changed lake level, I don't see anything mysterious about it. If they want weird, they should get more pics of Iapetus. That's a weird moon!