Ducknut Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The international Cassini spacecraft has spotted what appears to be an ice volcano on Saturn's planet-size moon, a finding that may help explain the source of Titan's thick atmosphere. Infrared images snapped by the orbiting Cassini reveal a 20-mile (30-kilometer) -wide dome that appears to be a cryovolcano, a volcanic-like vent that spews forth ice instead of lava. Scientists theorize the volcano at one time spat out icy plumes that released methane into Titan's atmosphere. The findings appear in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. Titan is the only moon in the solar system that has a significant atmosphere made up of nitrogen and methane. Its atmosphere is similar to that of primordial Earth and scientists believe that studying it could provide clues to how life began. Scientists have long speculated that the organic materials in Titan's atmosphere were formed by seas or lakes of methane or ethane, but the latest Cassini images did not show any evidence that Titan is awash in pools of methane. Methane is a highly flammable gas on Earth, but it is liquid on Titan because of the intense atmospheric pressure and cold. "Interpreting this feature as a cryovolcano provides an alternative explanation for the presence of methane in Titan's atmosphere," said Christophe Sotin, a team member of the Cassini visual and infrared mapping spectrometer. Although the ice volcano is inactive, scientists believe similar volcanoes may exist elsewhere on Titan that ooze a methane-water ice mixture to the surface. In an accompanying editorial, Louise Prockter of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University noted that while the ice volcano hypothesis was intriguing, higher-resolution images could reveal that the structure is something other than a volcano. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a joint NASA-European Space Agency project. The combined craft was launched in 1997 and arrived in orbit of the ringed planet last year. Huygens, a probe developed and controlled by the ESA, touched down earlier this year. The latest finding is based on a Cassini flyby of Titan on October 26, 2004. Forty-five flybys are planned during Cassini's four-year mission. The next one will be August 22. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 I'm sorry, the ultimate ice climb is on Miranda. There is a 10km high cliff of water ice. This is the largest cliff in the solar system, and is 3km higher than the curtain wall around Olympus Mons. Due to the cold temperatures, though, the climbing will be more like drytooling than water ice climbing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ireneo_Funes Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 I was wondering how long it'd take Dru to reply to this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducknut Posted June 9, 2005 Author Share Posted June 9, 2005 Ok, I was baiting Dru. Got him, hook, line and sinker. Maybe I should have titled the thread "Ultimate in Volcano Slogging" Or "Hey, Buddy Gotta match?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divot Posted June 12, 2005 Share Posted June 12, 2005 nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archenemy Posted June 13, 2005 Share Posted June 13, 2005 nice lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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