Titan may have a hidden ocean

About | Contact | Mongabay on Facebook | Mongabay on Twitter | Subscribe

SHARE:

Titan may have a hidden ocean
mongabay.com
March 20, 2008

An ocean may lie under the surface of Saturn's moon Titan, according to research published this week in the journal Science.

Analyzing several years of radar data from the Cassini-Huygens mission, Ralph Lorenz of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University and colleague "found that some of the geological features on the moon's surface had drifted from a fixed reference point, implying that the moon's rotation speed had temporarily increased," according to a statement from Science. The observations suggest that "winds in Titan's dense atmosphere may be rocking the moon back and forth around its axis," indicating that Titan's crust and core are separated by a liquid ocean.

The presence of water on Titan suggests that the conditions necessary for the evolution of life are common in the solar system, write Christophe Sotin and Gabriel Tobie in a follow up perspective also published in Science.

Swathed in its thick blanket of atmosphere, frigid Titan approaches the brilliant limb of Saturn. March 14, 2008. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

"If the presence of an ocean is confirmed, Titan would be the fourth object in the solar system with a deep ocean, after the Galileo mission found such liquid layers in Jupiter's moons Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. Large reservoirs of water, a condition for life to form and develop, are thus a common feature in the solar system," they write. "With its dunes, lakes, channels, mountains, and cryo-volcanic features, Titan is an active place that resembles Earth, with methane playing the role of water and ice that of silicates. The study of geological processes acting on these different materials by Cassini-Huygens and future missions will help us to understand the cycle of the elements and organic molecules that play a key role in the formation and evolution of life."

R.D. Lorenz et al (2008). Titan's Rotation Reveals an Internal Ocean and Changing Zonal Winds. Science 21 March 2008

C. Sotin and G. Tobie (2008). Titan's Hidden Ocean. Science 21 March 2008

This article is based on the cited articles in Science as well as press materials from AAAS.

Share | Email

CITATION:
mongabay.com (March 20, 2008). Titan may have a hidden ocean. http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0320-titan.html

Tags:
Space green

print

News index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home

Advertisements:

Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing

Mongabay Store
Wildlife of Madagascar T-shirt		Bold and Dangerous - Pygmy tyrant
Love me before I'm gone - Gladiator frog		Licking this frog may make you crazy

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

SUPPORT
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)

Help support mongabay.com when you buy from Amazon.com

Photos

Alaska	Argentina	Australia
Belize	Brazil	Cambodia
China	Colombia	Costa Rica
Deforestation	Frog	Gabon
Grand Canyon	Honduras	India
Indonesia	Kenya	Laos
Lemur	Madagascar	Malaysia
Monkey	New Zealand	Panama
Peru	Rainforest	Sunset
Suriname	Tanzania	Thailand
Uganda	United States	Venezuela

HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS / PRINTS

CALENDARS

Mount Kenya

East Africa Safari Wildlife

Kenya's Turkana People

Madagascar Chameleons

CANVAS BAGS

Hallucinogenic frog bag

Madagascar wildlife bag

Mongabay.com's Fan Page on Facebook

Copyright mongabay 2010

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from mongabay.com operations (server, data transfer, travel) are mitigated through an association with Anthrotect,
an organization working with Afro-indigenous and Embera communities to protect forests in Colombia's Darien region.
Anthrotect is protecting the habitat of mongabay's mascot: the scale-crested pygmy tyrant.