Wed. May 26/10 Pace51
Real Outer Space Facts: Moons with Water and Liquid
The below article was made using research sources found on the web, the National Geographic and NASA web sites. However, it is my own writing and those sources were used only to get information, and the articles are not plagiarized. Anyways, I found them incredibly interesting. Enjoy! Space is AWESOME
Titan (Saturn)
Enceladus (Saturn)
Moon (Earth)
Titan
Titan is Saturns largest moon. In fact, it is so massive that it is bigger than Mercury, and some of the smaller planetoids. It is the second biggest moon in our solar system. On one expedition, the Cassini Sattelite orbited closely nearby Titan. Scientists discovered lake-like fissures in the land scape, located in valleys. Coming down into the valleys from higher ground were streams of liquid. Some of these lakes were absolutely massive, almost 40 kilometres in diameter! The moon also had a cycle that greatly resembled Earths water cycle. However, these lakes weren’t filled with water, but with liquid methane which helps keep the moon incredibly cold. There are even methane reservoirs that act like the Earths water table under the crust of Titan. So just think, we say we have a methane problem? Titan’s got it worse, although theirs is the opposite. Global cooling instead of global warming, liquid instead of gas, and no annoying former vice-presents making videos that can put a guy drinking 6 cans of red bull an hour to sleep. The moon also has methane formed by cryo-volcanoes, which are intensely cold volcanoes.
Enceladus
Enceladus is the primary target in the search for alien life forms. In fact, reports have come forth claiming that cellular life forms have in fact been found in the planet, but these may not yet be confirmed. Unlike Titan, this moon actually contains good old H2O. Nasa thinks that the pockets of liquid are key to the search for ‘s because they are similar to those found on the hydrothermal pockets of Earth. Wwhen the Cassini satellite orbited Enceladus, scientists spotted large plumes of what appeared to be a steamy substances coming from the planet. They thought underground ice reservoirs may have been the cause of these. Then, they realized that what they witnessed were actually liquid-water geysers, and not just plumes of water vapour. Apparently, there are sources deep inside Enceladus which produce heat. These will then melt the ice beneath and water geysers will come out. The crust of the surface of Enceladus is very icy. However, the pressurized jets will shoot right of the surface. Shortly after, it freezes and ice particles are distributed.
The Moon
Using India’s Chandrayaan-1 Satellite, scientists located deposits of water and ice near the north pole section of the moon. More than 40 craters were found, all filled with ice. There is an estimated 600 million tons of water ice, and the craters range from about 2-15km in diameter. The satellite produced pictures of the north pole of the moon which is invisible from Earth, as well as images of its two craters that are permanently shrouded in darkness. Apparently, water in varying states has been discovered on the moon, such as water vapour and ice.
Sources: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news … aturn.html
http://www.universetoday.com/2010/03/01 … orth-pole/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news … titan.html
Real Outer Space Facts: Moons with Water and Liquid
The below article was made using research sources found on the web, the National Geographic and NASA web sites. However, it is my own writing and those sources were used only to get information, and the articles are not plagiarized. Anyways, I found them incredibly interesting. Enjoy! Space is AWESOME
Titan (Saturn)
Enceladus (Saturn)
Moon (Earth)
Titan
Titan is Saturns largest moon. In fact, it is so massive that it is bigger than Mercury, and some of the smaller planetoids. It is the second biggest moon in our solar system. On one expedition, the Cassini Sattelite orbited closely nearby Titan. Scientists discovered lake-like fissures in the land scape, located in valleys. Coming down into the valleys from higher ground were streams of liquid. Some of these lakes were absolutely massive, almost 40 kilometres in diameter! The moon also had a cycle that greatly resembled Earths water cycle. However, these lakes weren’t filled with water, but with liquid methane which helps keep the moon incredibly cold. There are even methane reservoirs that act like the Earths water table under the crust of Titan. So just think, we say we have a methane problem? Titan’s got it worse, although theirs is the opposite. Global cooling instead of global warming, liquid instead of gas, and no annoying former vice-presents making videos that can put a guy drinking 6 cans of red bull an hour to sleep. The moon also has methane formed by cryo-volcanoes, which are intensely cold volcanoes.
Enceladus
Enceladus is the primary target in the search for alien life forms. In fact, reports have come forth claiming that cellular life forms have in fact been found in the planet, but these may not yet be confirmed. Unlike Titan, this moon actually contains good old H2O. Nasa thinks that the pockets of liquid are key to the search for ‘s because they are similar to those found on the hydrothermal pockets of Earth. Wwhen the Cassini satellite orbited Enceladus, scientists spotted large plumes of what appeared to be a steamy substances coming from the planet. They thought underground ice reservoirs may have been the cause of these. Then, they realized that what they witnessed were actually liquid-water geysers, and not just plumes of water vapour. Apparently, there are sources deep inside Enceladus which produce heat. These will then melt the ice beneath and water geysers will come out. The crust of the surface of Enceladus is very icy. However, the pressurized jets will shoot right of the surface. Shortly after, it freezes and ice particles are distributed.
The Moon
Using India’s Chandrayaan-1 Satellite, scientists located deposits of water and ice near the north pole section of the moon. More than 40 craters were found, all filled with ice. There is an estimated 600 million tons of water ice, and the craters range from about 2-15km in diameter. The satellite produced pictures of the north pole of the moon which is invisible from Earth, as well as images of its two craters that are permanently shrouded in darkness. Apparently, water in varying states has been discovered on the moon, such as water vapour and ice.
Sources: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news … aturn.html
http://www.universetoday.com/2010/03/01 … orth-pole/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news … titan.html
Last edited by pace51 (2010-05-26 16:25:02)
