"NASA finds Earth’s cirrus-like ice clouds on Saturn’s moon Titan"

I have heard many people talk about this lunar object over the years, but due to my lack of interest I never paid much attention. This article certainly caught my eye though. I imagine the overall conditions on Titan are much different compared to earth, but if it can support an atmosphere that produces similar cloud like formations, it should mean that life on Titan could be possible in my opinion. We always talk about finding life galaxies away, but we often over look our own solar system. I would be happy if NASA or any other organization would even admit that they found microbes or other forms of simple life.

www.discoveryon.info

TextExperts at NASA have sighted thin, wispy clouds of ice particles similar to Earth’s cirrus clouds on one of Saturn’s moons, Titan. The findings were made using the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The clouds are perfectly white, and their presence is the latest clue to the workings of Titan’s intriguing atmosphere and its one-way “cycle” that delivers hydrocarbons and other organic compounds to the ground as precipitation. “This is the first time we have been able to get details about these clouds. Previously, we had a lot of information about the gases in Titan’s atmosphere but not much about the [high-altitude] clouds,” said Robert Samuelson at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Compared to earlier-found methane and ethane clouds, these are much thinner and located higher in the atmosphere. “They are very tenuous and very easy to miss,” said Carrie Anderson, lead author. Even before Voyager 1 reached Titan, scientists knew the moon was wrapped in a thick atmosphere that probably contained hydrocarbons. It also picked up indications that Titan’s stratosphere, the second-lowest layer of its atmosphere, harboured ices made from some exotic organic compounds,” Samuelson said.

Pinpointing the altitudes where such gases turn into ices is painstaking work. Anderson and Samuelson are using the CIRS (pronounced “sears”) instrument on Cassini to find them. In addition to spotting the clouds, the researchers gathered enough information to measure the sizes of the ice particles. “If Titan has any water on the surface, it would be solid as a rock,” said Goddard’s Michael Flasar, the Principal Investigator for CIRS. The cloud-forming temperatures occur in the “cold, cold depths of Titan’s stratosphere,” said Anderson. Researchers think that the compounds get moved downward by a constant stream of gas flowing from the pole in the warmer hemisphere to the pole in the colder hemisphere. There, the gas sinks. This circulation pattern steals so much gas from the warmer hemisphere that researchers can measure the imbalance. The influx of all this gas gives the colder hemisphere more clouds. “We are starting to find out how similar Titan’s clouds are to Earth’s. How do they compare? How do they not compare?” said Anderson. “The big question is: will the vortex go out with a bang or whimper? On Earth, it goes out with a bang. It’s very dramatic. But on Titan, maybe the vortex just gradually fizzles out like the smile of the Chesire cat,” said Flasar.

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


Here are a few more pictures of Titan I found.










Does anyone know why when I post an image it only shows the link? When I used to post images the picture would show in the thread.

Wow that almost looks like earth..(the first picture) Water, mountains, clouds. Cool find.

Deebo

reply to post by Deebo


Great observation ,I also thought that it shared a similar looking atmosphere with earth.

It would be interesting to see some pictures of the actual surface. I wonder if it is worth the effort for NASA or any other space agency to send a probe or "rover" to explore. Perhaps it has already done and I just don't know, or perhaps the atmosphere and surface isn't capable of hosting these types of studies.

Originally posted by Corruption Exposed
reply to post by Corruption Exposed

 

Here are a few more pictures of Titan I found.










Does anyone know why when I post an image it only shows the link? When I used to post images the picture would show in the thread.

edit on 11-2-2011 by Corruption Exposed because: pics

Try uploading the pics to your profile here on ATS. Then copy the last embedded code and it should work.

reply to post by CastleMadeOfSand


Thank you, I will try that next time.

Originally posted by Corruption Exposed
reply to post by Deebo

 

Great observation

,I also thought that it shared a similar looking atmosphere with earth.

It would be interesting to see some pictures of the actual surface. I wonder if it is worth the effort for NASA or any other space agency to send a probe or "rover" to explore. Perhaps it has already done and I just don't know, or perhaps the atmosphere and surface isn't capable of hosting these types of studies.

We actually did have a probe land on titan,

en.wikipedia.org... couple pics on wiki of it as well as a quick blurb.

But due to temperatures water is rock solid on the surface. There are however, lakes and rivers of hydrocarbons (as well as the rain). Imagine it raining gasoline and petrolium :p

reply to post by Corruption Exposed


Looks like the government is spraying chemtrails there now too huh?

reply to post by SlasherOfVeils


Thanks for the link . I i really liked the pictures taken from the surface of Titan.

I guess if we ever send astronauts there it will be a non smoking mission considering there is oil and gas in the air.

reply to post by mecheng


I never thought of that.

We would have to chemtrail the heck out of Titan in order to make the atmosphere even remotely close to what we have here.