Catskul writes "Telescopes atop Mauna Kea have recorded for the first time clouds floating over Saturn's biggest moon. Astronomers used telescopes at the Keck and Gemini observatories atop the dormant volcano on the Big Island to photograph methane clouds near the south pole of the moon Titan."
"These are the most spectacular images of Titan's surface which we've seen to date," said Dr. Michael Brown, lead author of the Caltech paper. "They are so detailed that we can almost begin to speculate about Titan's geology, if only we knew for certain what the bright and dark regions represented."
Yeah, if we only had that one missing datum... Seems to me that what they have right now is the planetological equivalent of a rorschach test. But why should that stop the speculation, rampant or otherwise? Just assume a working interpretation and work from there. I'll even start. The "bright and dark regions" could represent:
Slashdot Mirror
"These are the most spectacular images of Titan's surface which we've seen to date," said Dr. Michael Brown, lead author of the Caltech paper. "They are so detailed that we can almost begin to speculate about Titan's geology, if only we knew for certain what the bright and dark regions represented."
Yeah, if we only had that one missing datum... Seems to me that what they have right now is the planetological equivalent of a rorschach test. But why should that stop the speculation, rampant or otherwise? Just assume a working interpretation and work from there. I'll even start. The "bright and dark regions" could represent:
- Highlands and lowlands.
- Continents and seas.
- Younger surface and older surface.
- Desert and methane-breathing vegetation.
- Open plains and urban sprawl.
- Vanilla and chocolate.
- Men and Orcs.
- Skin and fur.
Just pick one and run with it, guys!