New data from the Cassini probe has revealed that Titan is one weird moon. Excerpts:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The surface of Saturn’s moon Titan may be covered by thick drifts of combustible organic "snow" floating on lakes of liquid methane or water and ammonia ice flows, NASA (news – web sites) scientists said on Friday.
Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California have been poring over new radar and infrared images of Titan taken this week by the Cassini spacecraft in the closest fly-by ever of the smog-covered moon.
The slice of terrain captured by Cassini’s instruments in Tuesday’s fly-by showed sharply contrasting bright and dark areas with sharp and grooved features that scientists believe may be "wrinkle ridges," where the moon’s thin plates collided.
The data also seems to show that Titan could be covered in up to 656 feet of fluffy hydrocarbon "snow" that fell out of the heavy atmosphere. It is still not clear how much of the surface is liquid and how much is solid and whether the "land masses" are ice, scientists said.
"We are beginning to see a few things we recognize, but most of what we see is very alien," geophycist Laurence Soderblom said.
"The surface could be very flammable," scientist Toby Owen said at a Friday briefing. "We can imagine flammable swamps on Titan with liquid methane and flammable aerosols."
Contacted by the Daily Planet, 30th-century superheroine Saturn Girl (who is a native of Titan) said: "There is a reason why we have a planet-wide ban on smoking on my homeworld. If you visit Titan, leave your matches and lighters at home. We still haven’t recovered from the Great Marlboro Disaster."
I don’t think my Zippo would work very well without Oxygen on Titan.
The story itself was fascinating, but who else would have had the artistic sensibility to tie in the Legion of Super-Heroes?
You are a true genius, Jimmy.