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The Swirling Vortex of Titan

Posted by Soulskill on from the bring-a-life-jacket dept.

sighted writes "New images from the robotic spacecraft Cassini show the ongoing formation of a massive vortex in the atmosphere of Saturn's planet-sized moon Titan. (See also this animation.) The same moon has recently provided tantalizing hints of an underground ocean as well. Future missions, if any are ever funded, will have plenty to explore."

5 of 45 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Titan is becoming a more amazing world by Stirling+Newberry · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sadly 2010 didn't arrive by 2010, though 1984 is half way here.

    --
    Fugue for Aaron Swartz
  2. Mod offtopic by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Please mod this entire fucking thread offtopic before it engulfs a potentially interesting discussion about Titan.

    --
    Drill baby drill - on Mars
    1. Re:Mod offtopic by Iskender · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Can the condescending attitude please. Threading doesn't matter if 90% of it all is off topic politics and pushes the on topic talk into an unmoderated corner.

  3. I wish there were more comments by strikethree · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wish there were more comments in stories like these. I always get a sense of child-like wonder when I see new things like this and I always find myself wondering how/why/what is going on. With the physics stories, we usually see some experts or at least some clued-in non-arrogant people having discussions that REALLY enlighten me. Stuff like this, not so much. It makes me feel kind of sad.

    I wish I knew more about this subject or at least enough to know where to go look. I will probably have to start with cloud formations and vortex mechanics and work my way out from there, but by the time I finally have a general idea, the wonder will be lost... but at least the information will still reside in my brain and I can apply it to Jupiter or somesuch. I am getting too old and the universe is too big for me to do original research on everything. That is the only reason I wish I could live forever. :)

    --
    "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
    1. Re:I wish there were more comments by SternisheFan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I agree with you completely. Isn't it cool!? I'm 52 now, and as a kid, before the moon landing, many people then thought it quite possible that the lunar lander might sink into the 'green cheese' surface of the moon! I know that sounds crazy to anyone born after 1969 reading this, but that was people's thinking back then. We couldn't be sure what the moon was made of. We really didn't know! We've come so far since then in our knowledge of the universe, and every pic of anything we haven't done or seen before always makes me feel so awed. Awed, and grateful. Grateful for being alive in this amazing time of discovery we live in. And I wonder how far we'll eventually go.....