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Titan's Smooth Surface Baffles Scientists

Posted by michael on from the that's-no-moon! dept.

JazMuadDib writes "Scientists expected a few rough spots when their space drone snapped close-range images of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Instead, the planetlike moon appears to have a bizarre, mysteriously smooth surface, and Tuesday's images have left them in a state of wonder. Read more at the Tucson Citizen." NASA's Cassini pages have a wide assortment of images and analysis. Cassini's data has already thrown scientists for loop.

3 of 319 comments (clear)

  1. I must be missing something.... by Konowl · · Score: 5, Informative

    There could be massive mountains and deep valleys there, or the surface could be completely flat. At this point, there's no way to tell.

    Am I missing something? The title of the slashdot entry discusses the smooth surface, but I RTFA, and scientists don't KNOW... period?

  2. landing on titan by gatrox · · Score: 5, Informative

    Cassini carries huygens, a land probe which will (hopefully) land on Titan on january 14th. There is an interesting story on ieee spectrum about an engineer who prevented the mission from certain failure.

  3. Re:so you got a smooth landscape... by daniel23 · · Score: 5, Informative

    > Titan is believed to be heated by gravitation stress from Jupiter...

    Titan is a moon of Saturn, not Jupiter.

    --
    605413? Yes, it's a prime.