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Thin Oxygen-CO2 Atmosphere Discovered On Rhea
Randyll writes "During its Saturn flyby in March, the Cassini space probe detected an oxygen-rich atmosphere on Rhea, Saturn's second-largest moon. While 100 times thinner than the atmospheres of Europa or Ganymede, Rhea's atmosphere contains a surprising amount of carbon dioxide. There is an explanation for the oxygen — the decomposition of surface ice — while the origin of the carbon dioxide is a mystery. A few of the possible explanations are that Rhea has carbon-rich organic molecules or that the gas is seeping from Rhea's interior. However, researchers have been unable to determine the exact source for the gas."
While "richness" is relative — the study's abstract refers to Rhea's atmosphere as "tenuous," and oxygen concentrations are trillions of times lower there than they are on Earth — the finding still puts Rhea in rare company among the planets and moons of the solar system.
Aliens who have died from lunar warming.
100 times thinner compared to what?
The atmospheres of Europa or Ganymede.
If they mean that Rhea's atmosphere is 1% or 1/100th as dense as Europa's then just say that.
They did say that. You're simply either a) unable to comprehend English, or b) so compelled to pedantry that said desire short-circuited the parts of your brain dedicated to the comprehension of the English language.
here's a hint: log(1) = 0. So it's the same size, which is why no one with a brain says "it's one time thinner".
"sometimes he felt that his whole life was a dream, and he wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it."
Fine - try looking at it a different way. Let's say that Europa has an atmospheric density of 100 units. If someone were to say that Rhea's was one time thinner, what would the density of Rhea's atmosphere be?
Someone wouldn't say "one time thinner".... But let's say someone said Rhea's atmosphere was twice as thin, two times thinner, half as thick, whatever you prefer, as Europa's then the density of Rhea's atmosphere would be 50 units.
Go read this explanation of the difference in density between air and water, it will probably make this whole atmosphere thing make more sense.
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
..and I, for one, welcome our new oxygen-breathing overlords!
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
Cardbon Dioxide on Rhea is known as Dio-Rhea
An interesting story comes to Slashdot, and there are practically no comments besides arguing about semantics and lame jokes?
Come on, I want to read about: What CO2 in the atmosphere mean? Can it be a product of life on the surface that's breathing, or can it be used by life forms on the surface to create food, does this make it more likely for life to be there, or not? Should we sent a probe to Rhea (oh yes, we should send a probe everywhere), or just to Titan and Europa? What about colonisation of Rhea (hey, Rhea might be last in the list, but that's more interesting than arguing what 'thin' means)?
Won't we put some hate on the US government for not making more missions, and learning more?
Am I the only one who dreams that we spent more money for space projects, and we currently had probes working on all planets and major moons, plus permanent human presence on Mars and the moon?