A Visit to Titan
The Huygens space probe has successfully landed on the surface of Saturn`s moon Titan. Titan is the only satellite in the solar system known to have a dense atmosphere (although Neptune`s moon Triton has a thin one) and can be considered an actual world. Titan is the second largest moon in the solar system (behind the Jovian Ganymede) and is larger than the planets Pluto and Mercury. It`s dense nitrogen/methane atmosphere is actually half again as thick as that of Earths (1.6 bar) and full of petrochemicals; it makes the smogs of L.A. seem like fresh mountain air (I wonder if the enviromentals will try to pass emissions laws on Titan). That is why Titan appears orange, rather than nitrogen blue. Because Titan is shrouded in smog clouds, no one knew what secrets the surface held. There could be oceans of ethane, ammonia blizzards, ice volcanoes, anything. We just didn`t know!
Now, for the first time, we actually have pictures of the Titanian landscape. This brings to 4 the number of worlds (plus one asteroid) where we have actual photographs of the surface. (The others are the Moon, Mars, and a very poor snapshop of the surface of Venus.) The mysterious Titan is beginning to shed her secrets.
The atmosphere of Titan is composed mostly of nitrogen, followed by methane, ethane, some ammonia, acetylene, ethylene and traces of other gases. Most of these gases are greenhouse gases, yet Titan is bitterly cold (289F below!) and may well rain ethane. It is believed that Titan has lakes and seas of liquid ethane.
In fact, the atmosphere of Titan resembles the early atmosphere of Earth, and scientists are eager to examine conditions there to get a better idea of what Earth was like at the beginning. Couple the ancient-Earthlike conditions with known organic material and probably adequate volcanism and lightning and you have conditions which would be favorable for life-at least so say the scientists. The only problem is the cold. Still, life could have formed around volcanic vents (much like life formed around volcanic vents at the bottom of the oceans on Earth.) This is one question we hope will be answered by Huygens; if, at least, conditions are indeed favorable chemically for life. (Personally, I doubt we will find life in the solar system or nearby stars. I believe there may be some very peculiar attributes necessary for life, and that we will be hard pressed to find it easily. I also believe that God created life through natural mechanisms, but that it is the manifestation of the Divine and that life will be limited by the will of the Almighty, but that is fodder for another essay.)
The mainstream media has treated this with a yawn. What a massive collection of dolts! Galileo, Newton, Schiapperelli, Tombaugh, etc. would have given their reproduction rights to have witnessed a moment like this! This is one of the great moments in history! Never again will generations get to witness the uncovering of the worlds of our solar system. Future generations will literally have to wait until we can visit other stars! This could be thousands of years! What majesty, what wonder we are privileged to witness! And the mainstream media is busy worrying about the pricetag of George Bush`s inauguration!
The history of life on Earth has been one of upward struggle. Life began in the deep. First plants, then animals crawled out of the primordial Oceans onto the land. They were fruitful, and multiplied, and filled the Earth. Man has been expanding for several million years from the plains of Africa to dominate the entire surface of the globe. We have men in orbit, and have had men on the Moon. We learn more and more. The solar system is the next logical step in Man`s sojourn here. We must move outward, expand, learn more, or we will wither away in despair at our imprisonment on this ancient rock. Our future lies above us, not grubbing in the Earth like the enviro-mentals and Earth First! crowd would have us believe. Gaia is not the answer; Gaia is but a false goddess. God has given us a Universe to conquer; it is time we got at it! Huygens has given us a good start.
To learn more, go to http://space.com/missionlaunches/huygens_images_050114.html
Now, for the first time, we actually have pictures of the Titanian landscape. This brings to 4 the number of worlds (plus one asteroid) where we have actual photographs of the surface. (The others are the Moon, Mars, and a very poor snapshop of the surface of Venus.) The mysterious Titan is beginning to shed her secrets.
The atmosphere of Titan is composed mostly of nitrogen, followed by methane, ethane, some ammonia, acetylene, ethylene and traces of other gases. Most of these gases are greenhouse gases, yet Titan is bitterly cold (289F below!) and may well rain ethane. It is believed that Titan has lakes and seas of liquid ethane.
In fact, the atmosphere of Titan resembles the early atmosphere of Earth, and scientists are eager to examine conditions there to get a better idea of what Earth was like at the beginning. Couple the ancient-Earthlike conditions with known organic material and probably adequate volcanism and lightning and you have conditions which would be favorable for life-at least so say the scientists. The only problem is the cold. Still, life could have formed around volcanic vents (much like life formed around volcanic vents at the bottom of the oceans on Earth.) This is one question we hope will be answered by Huygens; if, at least, conditions are indeed favorable chemically for life. (Personally, I doubt we will find life in the solar system or nearby stars. I believe there may be some very peculiar attributes necessary for life, and that we will be hard pressed to find it easily. I also believe that God created life through natural mechanisms, but that it is the manifestation of the Divine and that life will be limited by the will of the Almighty, but that is fodder for another essay.)
The mainstream media has treated this with a yawn. What a massive collection of dolts! Galileo, Newton, Schiapperelli, Tombaugh, etc. would have given their reproduction rights to have witnessed a moment like this! This is one of the great moments in history! Never again will generations get to witness the uncovering of the worlds of our solar system. Future generations will literally have to wait until we can visit other stars! This could be thousands of years! What majesty, what wonder we are privileged to witness! And the mainstream media is busy worrying about the pricetag of George Bush`s inauguration!
The history of life on Earth has been one of upward struggle. Life began in the deep. First plants, then animals crawled out of the primordial Oceans onto the land. They were fruitful, and multiplied, and filled the Earth. Man has been expanding for several million years from the plains of Africa to dominate the entire surface of the globe. We have men in orbit, and have had men on the Moon. We learn more and more. The solar system is the next logical step in Man`s sojourn here. We must move outward, expand, learn more, or we will wither away in despair at our imprisonment on this ancient rock. Our future lies above us, not grubbing in the Earth like the enviro-mentals and Earth First! crowd would have us believe. Gaia is not the answer; Gaia is but a false goddess. God has given us a Universe to conquer; it is time we got at it! Huygens has given us a good start.
To learn more, go to http://space.com/missionlaunches/huygens_images_050114.html
posted by Timothy Birdnow | 3:20 PM
1 Comments:
Thanks for all the great info on Titan. I am so excited by this I'm practically jumping out of my skin and you have really captured the reasons why this is such a historic moment. You're right about how we can never seem to get beyond the petty little political argument of the moment, which is quickly supplanted by the next petty political argument. Perhaps it's the fact that the election has been won, but these little squabbles seem less than interesting to spend one's time on. I take it that these measurements of the atmosphere and also the temperature were done remotely and are not the result of the probe landing on Titan? Can't wait to see what we find down there. It seems so bizarre and strange -- more remote and mysterious than Mars, which somehow we have had some idea about for quite some time.
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