Titan greenhouse effect!!!!

ive been reading a book which has stated that there is a substantial green
house effect on Titan
( similar to the Venus one but not so extream ) the upshot of which is the
same though, a
warmer surface temperature than one would normally expect considering its
distance from
the sun, the authur was hinting that we cant rule out some type of
biological activity there.
When does that cassini probe get there?

Hayley

"Hayley" wrote:

ive been reading a book which has stated that there is a substantial green
house effect on Titan
( similar to the Venus one but not so extream ) the upshot of which is the
same though, a
warmer surface temperature than one would normally expect considering its
distance from
the sun, the authur was hinting that we cant rule out some type of
biological activity there.
When does that cassini probe get there?

Hayley

This just arrived, radar from Areceibo confirming (well almost 100%
confirming) liquid hydorcarbon on Titan.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases...pbell.bpf.html

Cassini details on

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

They have just announced Cassini experiments confirming accuracy of
relativity predictions for bending of light passing massive object -
using radio signals at time when Cassini was on opposite side of Sun
from Earth.

Cheers

Martin

--------------
Martin Frey
N 51 02 E 0 47
--------------

"Martin Frey" wrote in message
...
"Hayley" wrote:

ive been reading a book which has stated that there is a substantial
green
house effect on Titan
( similar to the Venus one but not so extream ) the upshot of which is
the
same though, a
warmer surface temperature than one would normally expect considering its
distance from
the sun, the authur was hinting that we cant rule out some type of
biological activity there.
When does that cassini probe get there?

Hayley

This just arrived, radar from Areceibo confirming (well almost 100%
confirming) liquid hydorcarbon on Titan.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases...pbell.bpf.html

Cassini details on

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

They have just announced Cassini experiments confirming accuracy of
relativity predictions for bending of light passing massive object -
using radio signals at time when Cassini was on opposite side of Sun
from Earth.

The Old girl ( well - Cassini's 6 years old already !!! ) is doing well and
hasnt even got there yet. Cassini imagery from the Jupiter flypast was
stunning :O

Due to arrive July next year - with Huygens
splish/splash/splosh/thud/thump/squish down on 14th Jan. 2005 after being
deployed Christmas Day 2004. Huygen's mission has been re-designed somewhat
due to some engineering 'oversights' regarding dopler shift :O and is thus a
few months later than orig. planned.

Doug

In message , Hayley
writes
ive been reading a book which has stated that there is a substantial green
house effect on Titan
( similar to the Venus one but not so extream ) the upshot of which is the
same though, a
warmer surface temperature than one would normally expect considering its
distance from
the sun, the authur was hinting that we cant rule out some type of
biological activity there.

What's the title and how old is the book?
Looking at "The New Solar System", Voyager 1 actually measured the
surface temperature and found a value of 94 Kelvin ( -180 Celsius).
Unless there's some really exotic chemistry you aren't going to get life
there.
--
"Forty millions of miles it was from us, more than forty millions of miles of
void"
Remove spam and invalid from address to reply.

Martin Frey wrote in message . ..


This just arrived, radar from Areceibo confirming (well almost 100%
confirming) liquid hydorcarbon on Titan.

Martin

What sort of hydrocarbons? Does this mean Bush has to go and liberate
it? This might well jump-start the next generation of space travel if
there's a soft target to be saved from possible terrorist attack!

Chris.B

On 3 Oct 2003 13:01:41 -0700, (Chris.B) wrote:

Martin Frey wrote in message . ..


This just arrived, radar from Areceibo confirming (well almost 100%
confirming) liquid hydorcarbon on Titan.

Martin

What sort of hydrocarbons? Does this mean Bush has to go and liberate
it? This might well jump-start the next generation of space travel if
there's a soft target to be saved from possible terrorist attack!

Chris.B

Maybe it's ethanol :-))

ChrisH

UK Astro Ads: http://www.UKAstroAds.co.uk

(Chris.B) wrote:

Martin Frey wrote in message . ..


This just arrived, radar from Areceibo confirming (well almost 100%
confirming) liquid hydorcarbon on Titan.

Martin

What sort of hydrocarbons? Does this mean Bush has to go and liberate
it? This might well jump-start the next generation of space travel if
there's a soft target to be saved from possible terrorist attack!

Chris.B

Too late - Exxon and Enron are already there and the good rocket
Exxon Valdez has already crashed into Mars, killing all the otters
that Beagle was hoping to hunt down.

Cheers

Martin

--------------
Martin Frey
N 51 02 E 0 47
--------------

Martin Frey got quite creative for an old bloke:

Too late - Exxon and Enron are already there and the good rocket
Exxon Valdez has already crashed into Mars, killing all the otters
that Beagle was hoping to hunt down.

Martin

Newsflash! First major oil spill on Titan! US oil giants deny
ferrying out hundreds of thousands of orange-space-suited clean-up
staff from ranks of 20 million US unemployed. Company denies undue
pressure applied by welfare agencies to aid recruitment. Each space
suited cleaner will be equipped with 2 bin bags and one pair of rubber
gloves. No danger to wildlife claims oil company spokesman from luxury
space yacht in low orbit round Mars.

Latest: SWANCC (Scientists With A Nice Clean Conscience) Swedish
spokesperson Martin Niceman claims ailing Hubble showed oil-leak on
widefield planetary camera images before being hastily shut down by
cash-strapped NASA. It is believed a hacker managed to get Hubble
operatiional where Nasa has consistently failed.

Just in: Oil giant wins prestigious award for caring policies on
space environment. President George W. Bush III to hand over award on
Off-white House Lawn. Ex-pres.George W. Bush II said to be delighted
to accept honour on behalf of oil company. A 2 million dollar cash
prize goes with the solid-gold, rocket-shaped paperweight.

Reuters: (G.W.II said to be recovering well from latest in a series
of minor operations to unclench his fist from his wallet. Doctors may
try local accupuncture next. A spokesperson from his medical team
denied excessive scar tissue was forcing alternative treatments)

Chris.B

The Book is called the search for life on other planets its a recent book,

the book does state the temperatures measured by Voyager as being 94K
but also that subsurface temperatures may be much warmer as the composition
of the moon is such that it cant be just a rocky world, also life is much
tougher than we imagined
only a few years ago, with such events as the bacteria coming back to life
after a long spell on our moon
on that camera they bought back.

Hayley
"Jonathan Silverlight" wrote
in message ...
In message , Hayley
writes
ive been reading a book which has stated that there is a substantial
green
house effect on Titan
( similar to the Venus one but not so extream ) the upshot of which is
the
same though, a
warmer surface temperature than one would normally expect considering its
distance from
the sun, the authur was hinting that we cant rule out some type of
biological activity there.

What's the title and how old is the book?
Looking at "The New Solar System", Voyager 1 actually measured the
surface temperature and found a value of 94 Kelvin ( -180 Celsius).
Unless there's some really exotic chemistry you aren't going to get life
there.
--
"Forty millions of miles it was from us, more than forty millions of miles
of
void"
Remove spam and invalid from address to reply.

In message , Hayley
writes
The Book is called the search for life on other planets its a recent book,

the book does state the temperatures measured by Voyager as being 94K
but also that subsurface temperatures may be much warmer as the composition
of the moon is such that it cant be just a rocky world, also life is much
tougher than we imagined
only a few years ago, with such events as the bacteria coming back to life
after a long spell on our moon
on that camera they bought back.

Well, staying with "The New Solar System" because it's the best
reference I've got, and we aren't going to learn much that's really new
until Cassini gets there "all being well", I find a theoretical
composition of 55% rock. It's clear that none of the moons of the outer
planets are just rock, but that doesn't give a reason they should be
warm inside.
In fact, Titan probably doesn't have the tidal heating Io does, so it
probably doesn't have any liquid water now. It's possible, though.

I'll be delighted if they do find any sign of life, but I think it's a
terrible mistake to raise hopes of finding it. It would be tremendously
exciting though - I'd guess there's a chance something evolved during
the brief time Titan did have liquid water, and there's always that
exotic chemistry I mentioned. Something able to generate energy in the
intense cold there, and some alternative solvent.

BTW, the bacteria on that camera may not have survived as long as people
thought - they may have arrived with the astronauts.