Islands on Titan's

[orcot]

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/moons/images/PIA09180-br500.jpg

A 90 by 150 km large island. This moon is giving Mars a run for its money for the most interesting place in the solar system (besides earth)

[EndLightEnd]

Man they really need to get a probe out there, lets see if theres any life under that ice in the oceans!

[Prince_James]

Yes. That would be finally an INTERESTING Nasa test.

[jumpercable]

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/moons/images/PIA09180-br500.jpg

A 90 by 150 km large island. This moon is giving Mars a run for its money for the most interesting place in the solar system (besides earth)

Looks like San Francsco Bay with Sri Lanka parked in the middle of it. No bay bridges?

[draqon]

Man they really need to get a probe out there, lets see if theres any life under that ice in the oceans!

what ice? lolly...
were are talking Titan here, there are no oceans, just methane lakes.

[orcot]

a lake you say? Perhaps but then again the island is pretty much rectangular
So given it's 90*150km it has a land mass of 13 500km² for some comparision the island of hawai is only 10 458 km². Lakes that have islands bigger then Hawai are starting to get pretty big lakes I think.
This place is defenitly worth a zeplin mission or something.

[Singularity]

Interesting to wonder about life forms based on methane instead of water. Will they be smarter than us ?

[draqon]

Interesting to wonder about life forms based on methane instead of water. Will they be smarter than us ?

were talking at most, bacteria there. Its way too cold.

[orcot]

The methane lakes on Titan are especially intriguing because ice worms discovered on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico in 1997 ingest bacteria feeding off methane hydrate deposits in deep, dark, cold ocean depths.
"Dark" and "cold" sounds strangely like Titan
http://www.quazen.com/Science/Astronomy/Is-there-life-on-Titan---and-everywhere-else.12549

More study is necesairy but there doesn't seem to be much plant life/surface covering. One thing is sure it's verry cold over there

For the fact if they are smarter then us: I haven't seen one of them sending probes to us.

[edit]
Other solvents
Other solvents sometimes proposed include methanol, hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen chloride. The latter two suffer from a relatively low cosmic abundance of sulfur and chlorine, which tend to be bound up in solid minerals. A mixture of hydrocarbons, such as the methane/ethane seas once believed to exist on the surface of Titan, could act as a solvent over a wide range of temperatures but would lack polarity. Isaac Asimov, the biochemist and science fiction writer, suggested that poly-lipids could form a substitute for proteins in a non-polar solvent such as methane or liquid hydrogen.[8] Other solvents such as formamide might also be suitable as a solvent that would support alternative biochemistry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_biochemistry#Other_solvents

not inpossible in theorie

[Indymaestro]

Yes. That would be finally an INTERESTING Nasa test.

Are you implying that none of the current or past missions are interesting?

Obviously you do not, but I anticipate *any* new developments from the varying missions that are currently in place with great interest.

Besides, when it concerns Science and Astronomy specifically, there aren't any uninteresting tests (yes even studying dung beetles has a purpose!).

[Singularity]

were talking at most, bacteria there. Its way too cold.

What bacteria, thats what u get on earth, on Titan there are Methacterias.

[orcot]

Methacterias do they feed on methane or is the solution inside methane, they must life under pressure for methane to be liquid on earth. No I think they eat methane, still it's not a bad gues

[orcot]

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/moons/images/IMG002436-br500.jpg
I wonder when we will gave a complete map of titan

[draqon]

no such thing as methacteria, if you mean methane breathing bacteria they are called: Methanotroph
http://www.tigr.org/news/pr_09_20f_04.shtml
Methylococcus capsulatus is an example

and methane producing bacteria are called: methanogens
http://www.science.siu.edu/microbiology/micr425/425Notes/10-Methane.html

[Singularity]

no such thing as methacteria, if you mean methane breathing bacteria they are called: Methanotroph
http://www.tigr.org/news/pr_09_20f_04.shtml
Methylococcus capsulatus is an example

and methane producing bacteria are called: methanogens
http://www.science.siu.edu/microbiology/micr425/425Notes/10-Methane.html

There is no need to breath in liquid methane if u r made 70% of methane, u just need to drink it.:D

[orcot]

There is no need to breath in liquid methane if u r made 70% of methane, u just need to drink it.

honnistly liquid methane on earth?

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/moons/images/IMG002288-br500.jpg

Kissing lakes on Titan... nice

[jumpercable]

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/moons/images/PIA09180-br500.jpg

A 90 by 150 km large island. This moon is giving Mars a run for its money for the most interesting place in the solar system (besides earth)

Check this out:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070313/ap_on_sc/saturn_titan

[orcot]

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/moons/images/PIA09184-br402.jpg

That's starting to get pretty big I wonder how much percent is going to turn out liquid this one alone covers 0.12% and their might be more

[orcot]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2007/01/070104011304.jpg
lakes lakes and lakes. I wonder if we have 2 worlds in this solar system (mars water doesn't realy count) that are partially liquid covered that it is a trent that should be expected from other exo solar system planets and if there any other possible seas then water or methane.

[jumpercable]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2007/01/070104011304.jpg
lakes lakes and lakes. I wonder if we have 2 worlds in this solar system (mars water doesn't realy count) that are partially liquid covered that it is a trent that should be expected from other exo solar system planets and if there any other possible seas then water or methane.

I wonder what the Titanian's stock their Methane lakes with? Maybe frozen Titan Trout for starters.

[orcot]

fishcreams perhaps?

It seems NASA thinks that their is a other "sea" out there that's abouth the size like earths caspian sea

[orcot]

new islands in a (methane) sea at least 10 meters deep
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/moons/images/PIA09211-br500.jpg

[Starthane Xyzth]

How can we be certain it's actually liquid methane, and not some sort of viscous oil or tar?

[draqon]

How can we be certain it's actually liquid methane, and not some sort of viscous oil or tar?

mass spectrophotometer picked up the data...gas particle emissions and such.

[Starthane Xyzth]

What would really prove it would be the detection of wind-driven waves or swells on the lakes. Couldn't some hint of these be gathered from polarisation of reflected infra-red light?

[draqon]

What would really prove it would be the detection of wind-driven waves or swells on the lakes. Couldn't some hint of these be gathered from polarisation of reflected infra-red light?

what 4? when u got much more precise instruments?;)

[BoSmoke]

detection of wind-driven waves or swells on the lakes

Hey. could surf be up on Saturns moon?

But serious - you got low gravity and dense atmos, strong winds, so the swells would be HUGE right? Cassini must have some way of getting fine enough detail on those lakes to spot them. A real close pass to Titan might do it?

[draqon]

Hey. could surf be up on Saturns moon?

But serious - you got low gravity and dense atmos, strong winds, so the swells would be HUGE right? Cassini must have some way of getting fine enough detail on those lakes to spot them. A real close pass to Titan might do it?

you want to surf on Titan? :eek:

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/9674/titanft7.jpg

[orcot]

What would really prove it would be the detection of wind-driven waves or swells on the lakes. Couldn't some hint of these be gathered from polarisation of reflected infra-red light?

What abouth tides, the moon is tidal locked but the orbit's proberly not entirly circulair and it's surface gravity is lower then the moon?

[Starthane Xyzth]

The lakes are not world-girdling oceans. You don't get much tide in relatively small, landlocked seas here on Earth (such as the Mediterranean and the Caspian), so the same would probably apply on Titan. Although there might be a little disturbance from the passage of the other moons.

[draqon]

The lakes are not world-girdling oceans. You don't get much tide in relatively small, landlocked seas here on Earth (such as the Mediterranean and the Caspian), so the same would probably apply on Titan. Although there might be a little disturbance from the passage of the other moons.

lol....:p silly you...you forgot that the reason Titan is so famous is also because it is moon of Saturn which emits intense gravitational field on Titan....causing the tides.

[BoSmoke]

lol....:p silly you...you forgot that the reason Titan is so famous is also because it is moon of Saturn which emits intense gravitational field on Titan....causing the tides.

Like orcot said, the moon is tidal locked - that means the bulges caused by Saturns gravity dont move around Titan as it turns, cause the same side always points at Saturn. Its tides are fixed and dont move, So the liquid WILL NOT rise or fall due to Saturn. Xyzth's right about the other moons thouh, cause Titan isnt tidal locked to them.

Silly YOU :m:

[BoSmoke]

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/9674/titanft7.jpg

Ah seh won! Dragon you are a great artiste, thats so cool. Putting my avatar in was the master touch. :m: :m: