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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."

45 comments

  1. So that would be by Megahard · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    a Titanic vortex?

    --
    I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
  2. No funding. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Cut taxes, starve the government. Live free or die!

    1. Re:No funding. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Cut taxes, starve the government. Live free or die hard!

      ftfy

    2. Re:No funding. by PaulBu · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Yes, Cut taxes, starve the government. Live free or die! -- also, stop wars, stop meddling in other countries affairs, and let interested people get together and explore on their own...

      For the record, 2012 total NASA budget is $19B; if just 1/16th of US population voluntary decide that it is a worthy cause, they would have to pay about $80/month to sustain that, something I would personally not mind doing, especially if my federal taxes are cut to zero and I am suddenly almost twice richer, I am sure many /.ers would feel the same! Not to mention that the resulting PASO (Private ... Organization) might end up being, hmm, a bit more efficient than NASA.

      Why government (especially Federal one) *has* to be answer to *everything*?

      My $0.02,

      Paul B.

    3. Re:No funding. by Stirling+Newberry · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Because corporations realize that it is more profitable to make pain pills for old people, and enforce IP on movies than explore new worlds. A wise government opens the ways which private enterprise will follow, collecting taxes on the successful businesses to recapture the costs of exploration, education, and research. However, as long as minting billionaires is our economic priority, neither government, nor private enterprise, will be interested in new worlds, since all the money is here on this old one.

      --
      Fugue for Aaron Swartz
    4. Re:No funding. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cut taxes, starve the government. Live free or die of a priapism!

      ftfy

      ftfy

    5. Re:No funding. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well there's your business idea. Why are you waiting on someone else to do it?

      I suspect you'll find out the flaws in your idea once you try.

    6. Re:No funding. by PaulBu · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Note that when I am an old person (and I am not required by the government to spend a portion of my income on pain pills! But that would get us totally off-topic), I will be free to contribute that money to something like space exploration voluntary, oh, heck, sign up for a one-way trip to Mars! ;-)

      But, I guess, I am already old enough by now (and lived under too many nominally different governments) not to have high hopes for having a "wise one" anymore any time soon...

      Also, "all the money is here on this old one" -- only for your definition of "money", pieces of paper which might or might not buy anything at any given time or location, or, even more current, some trailing zeros in a 64-bit number on a bank computer. If one defines money as something that people are willing to use for exchange, I can see how He3 would work nicely, and there is much more of it up there than down here...

      Paul B.

      P.S. To two other people who replied -- yes, this is off-topic, but invitation was built right into the summary, in the form of "if any are ever funded" whining. And no, I was not talking about space businesses (though, I'm all for that!), but possible non-profit exploration -- thus, estimated possibility of chip-in funds from individuals to fund equivalent of NASA, not possible business investments! For the record, I did join at a very early stage a risky private start-up operating on the fine edge between science and science fiction, putting my life efforts and possible $$ where my mouth is, thank you! ;-)

      P.P.S Why does /. allow for "Overrated" mods on comments which have *not* been positively rated, except for karma-bonus modifier, I have no clue!

    7. Re:No funding. by Stirling+Newberry · · Score: 1
      Note to the troll mods, in economic theory, this is called dynamic inconsistency and future welfare discounting in intergenerational transfers.

      And in the question of space exploration, the questions of how much we discount the welfare in the future, and what the curve of dynamic inconsistency looks like are essential in deciding at what point it is worth while to invest in an expensive project with very long term payoffs.

      --
      Fugue for Aaron Swartz
  3. Evidence of life by rossdee · · Score: 1

    Maybe theres a trailer park there

  4. Titan is becoming a more amazing world by Stirling+Newberry · · Score: 2

    with each discovery. Would that space exploration were the priority, we could have robots swarming the solar system, including permanent orbiters around the gas giants and landers on the ice worlds.

    --
    Fugue for Aaron Swartz
    1. Re:Titan is becoming a more amazing world by bandy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Except Europa ... Attempt No Landings There.

      --
      "You might as well get your son a ticket to hell as give him a five string banjo." -unknown minister
    2. 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
    3. Re:Titan is becoming a more amazing world by MickLinux · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't trust any images from JPL at the moment. Yes, the pictures are interesting, so are pictures from Star Trek.

      --
      Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
    4. Re:Titan is becoming a more amazing world by similar_name · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't trust any images from JPL at the moment. Yes, the pictures are interesting, so are pictures from Star Trek.

      Why? I haven't heard anything so I searched for fake JPL images and this was the first thing that came up. I'm assuming you're not talking about that so I'm curious.

    5. Re:Titan is becoming a more amazing world by SternisheFan · · Score: 1

      Except Europa ... Attempt No Landings There.

      Why? What's there happening on Europa that there shouldn't be any attempts at landing there? What exactly is so Area 51 about Eu-ro-pa??? Too 'good' for the rest of the solar system now, are we, huh?? Now we really are gonna go and land there, just because you said not to. So there.

    6. Re:Titan is becoming a more amazing world by MickLinux · · Score: 1

      I wasn't aware of any of that.No, I don't find junk like that convincing, either. I probably shouldn't have posted that comment anyhow. I was only aware of one specific instance of a publication/ documentation of some ...er, questionable material by JPL, but it was something else, later, that made my mind up.

      Maybe a more reasonable person than me would assume that the one instance was a fluke. Or if not a fluke, perhaps brought about by claims like the one you posted.

      --
      Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
    7. Re:Titan is becoming a more amazing world by bandy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Read and watch "2001: A Space Odyssey". (The book and the movie were developed simultaneously and you really need one to fully understand the other. I'd read the book first.) Then read "2010: Odyssey Two". Both written by Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Psychedelics optional where permitted by law, sitter who knows and loves the story highly advised.

      --
      "You might as well get your son a ticket to hell as give him a five string banjo." -unknown minister
    8. Re:Titan is becoming a more amazing world by bandy · · Score: 1

      All the elements for the latter are in place, except for private ownership of printed material. However, if no-one reads them, then it really doesn't matter what they say. As to being about to get humans out of Terra's g-field...sigh. And Hard AI is so much harder than what anyone had imagined. And is much harder than what the Transhumanists and Singularists could possibly imagine.

      --
      "You might as well get your son a ticket to hell as give him a five string banjo." -unknown minister
    9. Re:Titan is becoming a more amazing world by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Read and watch "2001: A Space Odyssey". (The book and the movie were developed simultaneously and you really need one to fully understand the other. I'd read the book first.) Then read "2010: Odyssey Two". Both written by Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Psychedelics optional where permitted by law, sitter who knows and loves the story highly advised.

      You're quite right, read the book first then see the film (mind altering substance unnecessary with that film). Actually I was joshing with my post, kind of a *whoosh* moment there. I thought everyone would... oh never mind. Mind provoking stuff, those films. The late Mr. Clarke wrote in the 'science fact' genre, and it's good to see he's still inspiring people today. "My God! It's filled with... Stars!" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(novel)

    10. Re:Titan is becoming a more amazing world by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      thanks for the link. conspiracy theories are hilarious. in the sidebar there's this video:

      100% Proof Of Alien Civilizations Exist On The Moon - Nasa Lies Uncovered In Colour

      It's just a video of pictures of the moon. Then the color is shifted to show the "alien civilizations".. but the picture looks exactly the same--there's nothing there. funniest shit i've seen in a while.

    11. Re:Titan is becoming a more amazing world by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks for that link to Youtube. It proves conclusively that the Youtube poster is an idiot and their video is a waste of bandwidth!

      WHY would JPL (as the Youtube poster alledges) bother incorporating satellite images into what is a closeup of the lunar surface
      (taken by an astronaut there). To send secret messages to "those in the know"? If it's such a grand conspiracy at work, why does it need
      to send messages to its members in such a risky fashion, especially as some "CLEVER PERSON" has seen right through their evil trick!
      Presumably the conspirators know what they themselves are up to.

      None of these Lunar Hoax alledgers seem to have any knowledge of photography, perspective, optical effects of minerals or even how firm
      the lunar regolith is. Update: Most researchers stopped thinking the landers would sink into some sort of Lunar Quicksand-dust in the late sixties, especially as several missions had already landed there (and not sunk out of sight). Why are the landers so nicely level on their patches of the lunar surface? Duh- because NASA *selected* level, relatively smooth areas for safety. For pete's sake.

      And then the pathetic Re-arrangement of (The National Aeronautics and Space Administration) (T) NASA -> SA(T)AN. Um, why is the definite article ("The")
      so important to the acronym, but not the conjunction ("and")?

      I could go on, but there's probably something better to do :-) Advice appropriate to several Youtube posters.

    12. Re:Titan is becoming a more amazing world by lennier · · Score: 1

      Eu-ro-pa??? Too 'good' for the rest of the solar system now, are we, huh??

      Twelth of never on the sand
      We'll be the pirate twins again....

      (ta republique)

      --
      You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
  5. Looks like... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... a rasenshuriken!

    Posting anonymously since anime is too guilty a pleasure for me :P

  6. 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 drinkypoo · · Score: 0, Offtopic

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

      You may not have noticed this due to your ample failure, but Slashdot features a threaded discussion model. If you don't like a thread, move over. Nothing is being engulfed here.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. 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.

  7. agreed by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And my positive contribution to a serious thread:

    The dipole moment of water, the dipole moment of anything, ammonia for example, is necessary for life

    Because life has to have something to work with chemically, a way in, a way that can lead to more complex chemistry.a dipole moment supplies this way in and way up

    Therefore, I am voting against life on titan, as a bunch of hydrocarbons with no dipole moment offer no stepping stone to more advanced chemistry

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:agreed by bdabautcb · · Score: 1

      Thank you for your positive contribution. Not being sarcastic, I have a question for you: can't hydrocarbons react to form molecules with pretty serious dipoles? I'm not a chemist, I'm an ecologist, and I don't remember a lot of organic chemistry. I might be totally wrong, but I thought that hydrocarbons on their own can form some dipolar molecules, and some especially strong dipoles in the presence of other elements, especially flouride, chloride, etc. I'd appreciate a response, I don't really know!

      --
      Koalas. They're telepathic. Plus, they control the weather. -Margaret
  8. Gattaca Corp doesn't lack fuding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But getting a job there is a bitch.

  9. Best Title Ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I was hoping this was the name of an awesome new rock opera / concept album.

  10. 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.....

    2. Re:I wish there were more comments by qwidjib0 · · Score: 2

      Agreed, people suck. The fact that we've barely touched the tip of the iceberg in discovering things like this is something to genuinely be excited about. I can't say that about many things in today's society.

    3. Re:I wish there were more comments by Nyder · · Score: 1

      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.....

      I don't think most people have gotten smarter since then, sure, most know the moon is rock, but that's only because they believe everything that is told to them.

      --
      Be seeing you...
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    800 mhz machine of a solid dose o7 BSD/OS. a it a break, if some of you have

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  14. !moon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The 'Moon' is the name of Earth's satellite. Titan is a satellite of Saturn, not a 'moon'. It's like calling New York 'a London' of the USA because they're both cities. Four legged, milk producing mammals? They're obviously all horses(!)

    Pedantic, yes, but I stop reading and look elsewhere for the information whenever I read about 'moons' around other planets. Even the linked NASA article goes on about 'moon'. A perfectly accurate word is already available to describe these natural bodies without resorting to using the name of a specific one. Just because a name is being popularly and regularly misused as a noun doesn't make it valid in information presented as scientific in nature.

    'Hoover' (verb), 'google' (verb) etc etc - words exist already. I've pushed my point far enough...

    That being said, I look forward to the 'time'/'space' when parallel multiverse fuckery exposes identical duplicates of our solar system. What will we call *that* Earth's satellite?

    Nope. I also have no fucking idea.

    1. Re:!moon by RaceProUK · · Score: 1

      A moon is a satellite of a planet. Note that this is different to the Moon (note the capital). So Titan is a moon, but not the Moon.

      --
      No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
    2. Re:!moon by spidercoz · · Score: 1

      Luna is the name of Earth's only natural satellite, it is 'a' moon.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Evelyn Beatrice Hall, re Voltaire
    3. Re:!moon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope. I also have no fucking idea.

      This was the only correct part of your post. How have you gone your entire life without knowing that a satellite of -any- planet is a moon? Look it up in whatever form of reference media you like, one of the definitions of 'moon' is just this.

  15. TiME = Titan Mare Explorer by Darth+Snowshoe · · Score: 2

    NASA is due (this month?) to make a final selection between three competing Discovery-class proposals. Among them is the Titan Mare Explorer, the first attempt to put a boat on an extraterrestrial sea. How cool would that be? Good overviews of the proposal are here;

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_Mare_Explorer
    http://futureplanets.blogspot.com/2011/08/time-and-updates.html

    A more detailed description is here;
    http://www.kiss.caltech.edu/workshops/titan2010/presentations/aharonson.pdf

    Disclosure: If the TiME mission is selected, I am hoping to work on it.

    1. Re:TiME = Titan Mare Explorer by Darth+Snowshoe · · Score: 2

      In fairness, a description of the other two competing Discovery proposals is here,

      http://futureplanets.blogspot.com/2012/05/and-discovery-nominees-are.html

      along with links to NASA quad charts for each, and to larger articles discussing each proposal in detail.

  16. Looks more like the eye of a hurricane... by PatSand · · Score: 1
    except the hurricane is most/all of the planet!

    I think it is an area of relative calm around the swirling bands...but that's my 2 cents of scientific insight/guessing...

    --
    Supreme Granter of Doctor of Obviology Letters ("A FIRM Command of the Obvious")