Huygens Spots Methane Fog On Saturn’s Moon Titan

Saturday, April 9, 2016

Huygens Spots Methane Fog On Saturn’s Moon Titan

Huygens Spots Methane Fog On Saturn’s Moon Titan:

Titan's dense, hydrocarbon rich atmosphere remains a focal point of scientific research. Credit: NASA

Titan is a moon shrouded in mystery. Despite multiple flybys and surface exploration conducted in the past few decades, this Cronian moon still manages to surprise us from time to time. In addition to having a dense atmosphere rich in hydrocarbons, which scientists believe may be similar to what Earth's own atmosphere was like billions of years ago, it appears that methane is to Titan what water is to planet Earth.In addition, methane fog was also observed by the Cassini space probe back in 2009 as it conducted a flyby of Titan. But recent findings by a team of researchers from York University indicates that the Huygens lander also detected fog during its descent towards the surface in 2005. This evidence, combined with the data obtained by Cassini, have helped to shed light on the weather patterns of this mysterious moon.In a paper that appeared in arXiv on March 14th, Dr. Christina Smith - a postdoctoral researcher from York University's Center for Research in Earth and Space Sciences (CRESS) - described how the Huygens probe's Side Looking Imager (SLI) obtained information that has since been analyzed to identify potential atmospheric features. These features show that Titan experiences meteorological phenomena which were not previously known.In total, the team looked over 82 SLI images, which were all taken after the lander reached the surface. These were then calibrated, processed and examined for signs of atmospheric features. Of these, six showed evidence of an extended horizontal feature that differed in radiance from what was predicted at higher and lower regions. No other discernible features were detected.The team concluded that this feature most likely originated from the presence of a fog bank close to the horizon that rose and fell during the period of observation. This indicated that it had recently rained in the area, which was a rather surprising find. Much like the observations made in 2009, the presence of methane fog shows that Titan has an active methane hydrological cycle.In essence, this means that methane on Titan is subject to the same transfer process as water is here on Earth. Basically, liquid methane on the surface evaporates and is exchanged with the atmosphere, where it condenses to form fog banks and rain clouds. As Christina Smith told Universe Today via email:

"We initially set out to see if we could see features such as clouds from the Huygens SLI data, but the features we found don't seem to be consistent with clouds and more likely are caused by a fog bank rising and falling over the time of observation. Fog had been seen before from orbit but never from the surface of Titan - this is what makes this work so exciting. This work is also a great example of how new insights and new findings can be made from "older" data sets."

Looking over this old data for the sake of making new discoveries was made possible, in part, because of the ongoing investigations conducted by Martian rovers and their respective science teams. Brittney Cooper - an undergraduate research assistant at CRESS and the second author of the paper - explained via email:

"We applied a technique of image analysis developed by Mark Lemmon for use with the Mars Exploration Rovers that was adapted by John Moores for use on the Mars Phoenix lander mission. This analysis method allowed the faint, barely observable atmospheric features captured by the Huygens' probe Side Looking Imager (SLI) on Titan to be amplified and more easily discerned."

For years, scientists have understood that on Titan, methane is analogous to water. It exists in liquid form (especially around the north pole where several large methane lakes exist), and in gaseous form in the atmosphere. However, what they did not know was whether or not there was an active cycle, where liquid methane on the surface was replenished through evaporation, condensation, and rain.But this evidence, combined with the Cassini probe data, shows that on Titan, there is an active transfer process between the liquid methane and the atmospheric methane. And where atmospheric humidity reaches 100%, methane fogs will form. Just the latest in a long line of fascinating discoveries to emerge from this mysterious moon!

Further Reading: arXiv.com

The post Huygens Spots Methane Fog On Saturn’s Moon Titan appeared first on Universe Today.

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the United States government agency responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958 with a distinctly civilian (rather than military) orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29, 1958, disestablishing NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency became operational on October 1, 1958.

UFO SIGHTINGS PHOTO PHOTOGRAPHY

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a UFO as "An unidentified flying object; a 'flying saucer'." The first published book to use the word was authored by Donald E. Keyhoe. The acronym "UFO" was coined by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, who headed Project Blue Book, then the USAF's official investigation of UFOs. He wrote, "Obviously the term 'flying saucer' is misleading when applied to objects of every conceivable shape and performance. For this reason the military prefers the more general, if less colorful, name: unidentified flying objects. UFO (pronounced Yoo-foe) for short." Other phrases that were used officially and that predate the UFO acronym include "flying flapjack", "flying disc", "unexplained flying discs", "unidentifiable object", and "flying saucer". The phrase "flying saucer" had gained widespread attention after the summer of 1947. On June 24, a civilian pilot named Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine objects flying in formation near Mount Rainier. Arnold timed the sighting and estimated the speed of discs to be over 1,200 mph (1,931 km/h). At the time, he described the objects' shape as being somewhat disc-like or saucer-like, leading to newspaper accounts of "flying saucers" and "flying discs". In popular usage the term UFO came to be used to refer to claims of alien spacecraft. and because of the public and media ridicule associated with the topic, some investigators prefer to use such terms as unidentified aerial phenomenon (or UAP) or anomalous phenomena, as in the title of the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP).

UFO PHOTO PHOTOGRAPHY

UFO - Unidentified Flying Object An unidentified flying object, or UFO, in its most general definition, is any apparent anomaly in the sky that is not identifiable as a known object or phenomenon. Culturally, UFOs are associated with claims of visitation by extraterrestrial life or government-related conspiracy theories, and have become popular subjects in fiction. While UFOs are often later identified, sometimes identification may not be possible owing to the usually low quality of evidence related to UFO sightings (generally anecdotal evidence and eyewitness accounts). Stories of fantastical celestial apparitions have been told since antiquity, but the term "UFO" (or "UFOB") was officially created in 1953 by the United States Air Force (USAF) to serve as a catch-all for all such reports. In its initial definition, the USAF stated that a "UFOB" was "any airborne object which by performance, aerodynamic characteristics, or unusual features, does not conform to any presently known aircraft or missile type, or which cannot be positively identified as a familiar object." Accordingly, the term was initially restricted to that fraction of cases which remained unidentified after investigation, as the USAF was interested in potential national security reasons and/or "technical aspects" (see Air Force Regulation 200-2). During the late 1940s and through the 1950s, UFOs were often referred to popularly as "flying saucers" or "flying discs". The term UFO became more widespread during the 1950s, at first in technical literature, but later in popular use. UFOs garnered considerable interest during the Cold War, an era associated with a heightened concern for national security. Various studies have concluded that the phenomenon does not represent a threat to national security nor does it contain anything worthy of scientific pursuit (e.g., 1951 Flying Saucer Working Party, 1953 CIA Robertson Panel, USAF Project Blue Book, Condon Committee).

Photos of Nature | Nature Photography What is The Universe

Photos of Nature | Nature Photography What is The Universe

Saturday, April 9, 2016