Liquid Found On Saturn Moon

Scientists Identify Ethane, A Component Of Crude Oil, On Titan

(AP)  At least one of many large, lake-like features on Saturn's moon Titan studied by the international Cassini spacecraft contains liquid hydrocarbons, making it the only body in the solar system besides Earth known to have liquid on its surface, NASA said Wednesday.

Scientists positively identified the presence of ethane, according to a statement from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, which manages the Cassini mission exploring Saturn, its rings and moons.

Liquid ethane is a component of crude oil.

Cassini has made more than 40 close flybys of Titan, a giant planet-sized satellite of the ringed world.

Scientists had theorized that Titan might have oceans of methane, ethane and other hydrocarbons, but Cassini found hundreds of dark, lake-like features instead, and it wasn't known at first whether they were liquid or dark, solid material, JPL's statement said.

"This is the first observation that really pins down that Titan has a surface lake filled with liquid," Bob Brown, team leader of Cassini's visual and mapping instrument, said in the statement.

The instrument was used during a December flyby to observe a feature dubbed Ontario Lacus, in the south polar region, that is about 7,800 square miles, slightly larger than North America's Lake Ontario.

Cassini reached Saturn in mid-2004 and at the end of that year launched a probe named Huygens that parachuted to the surface of Titan the following January.

The mission is a project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

[rf35]

In a related story, Exxon Mobil is planing its own exploration of Titan to see if it can find anything that will help it recover from its dismal and disappointing $11.68 billion second-quarter profit. Meanwhile, gas here is finally back down to $4.00 per gallon.

[govwatch-2009]

Well that should solve our energy crisis!!!

[usclimey]

"Liquid ethane is a component of crude oil."

Interesting considering ethane boils at -89 deg C.

It''s a component of natureal gas.

[rational_1]

In a related story, Exxon Mobil is planing its own exploration of Titan to see if it can find anything that will help it recover from its dismal and disappointing $11.68 billion second-quarter profit. Meanwhile, gas here is finally back down to $4.00 per gallon.
Posted by rf35 at 11:16 AM : Jul 31, 2008

And just imagine how well we could ramp up global warming if we could only get all that additional carbon from all that ethane into our atmosphere.

[mitdgreenb]

At last!!! An answer to the question of where all those racing stripes go!

[ogspics]

Meanwhile...Back On Earth!

How scientists can spot oil a million miles away but utterly fail to spot what is right here on Earth.

Check out the giant crater in the western quarter of the united states.

Go to the mapquest satellite viewer and use the aerial mode to view the western united states. Zoom to the third level from the bottom. Check the labels box.

Now, look at where Boise, Idaho is located. Just north east of Boise is a very large impact recoil peak. There is another recoil peak a little further north west of Boise/northeast of Baker City Oregon. Uncheck the labels box and look at the map without the roads, etc. Look carefully at the area to the east, over to the area of yellowstone park and the northwest corner of Wyoming.

To the north and south of the Yellowstone area, the crater rim is readily visible.

Do this all with a smart student or a whole classroom if you can. (6th-8th grade).

Follow the arc of the crater rim south.. to the south west, up to the north along the western Cascade Mountains up through Washington and then eastward around the canada border and on down south to reconnect back at the Yellowstone area. The crater rim here appears to have been affected by Yellowstone caldera activity.

See the big impact crater. About 1000 miles in diameter.
Oh, and just a little further south at the "four corners" area, check out the super volcano!
www.beholdgiants.com

[voidmaster-2009]

Fossil fuel on Titan? Fossils of what? ;=)

[rockford16]

WE can''t even take care of our own planet, we don''t have a clue as to how even 10% of life here on earth works and they are spending billions, and using up precious minds and resources to go no where, what the heck is going on here?! Let''s take care of this little blue ball before we even think about what''s out there, who cares about water on another planet!! Even if these companies found precious cargo, how in the world could they get it back, man we are some dumb bunnies!! If there are aliens out there,put us out of our misery please!!

[voidmaster-2009]

%u201C%u2026Using up precious minds and resources to go no where%u2026%u201D

Posted by Rockford16

***

That is a pretty shortsighted if not narrow-minded view of science. Here are a couple of facts for you.

One; sooner or later we *will* have to find living space elsewhere. We will either use this one up, screw it up or it is going to get clobbered by something big (e.g. Chicxulub). Yes, it will likely be a while before that necessity becomes urgent; however see %u201Ctwo%u201D below.

Two; space exploration is by definition a very long-term endeavor. So it only makes sense to start now since relocation is going to be time consuming. And since the trip will pretty much be one way, it would behoove us to spend some time and resources researching. We really do need to know a lot about where we will be going.

If billions have to be spent on science, space exploration is a good place to spend it, as are a few others.

[octavianfdlr]

"Liquid ethane is a component of crude oil."
-The Article
___________

Umm humm... and liquid nitrogen is a component of ocean water. LOL

[yongamerica]

I bet Exxon is working on a way to exploit this moon ASAP

[sociald63]

yay - hope to see aliens in this lifetime (and, NO, i am not referring to mexicans)

[octavianfdlr]

On Jul 31, 2008, at 03:58 PM, yongamerica posted:

I bet Exxon is working on a way to exploit this moon ASAP
_______________

Not likely -- wouldn''t that force fuel prices lower?