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Astronomers Probe Mysterious Gas In Titan's Atmosphere
sciencehabit writes "A fluorescent glow high in the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, signifies the presence of a gas that astronomers have yet to identify. The glow appears only on the daytime side of the moon at altitudes between 600 and 1250 kilometers, with the largest intensity occurring at an altitude of about 950 km. Detailed analyses reveal that the glow doesn't stem from a problem with the Saturn-orbiting Cassini craft, and it isn't associated with methane or any of the other hydrocarbons already identified as constituents of Titan's atmosphere."
An article from a real science magazine. Not that shit from The Slate done by Phucking Phil Phucktard.
Naah, no one would do that to a scientist.
Anybody got an apropos Far Side link?
I have an idea where that gas came from. Probably that Titanurrito I had for lunch.
Just sayin'...
I guess the chances of anything coming from Titan, are a million to one...
Enjoy science fiction? "Turing Evolved" - AI, Mecha, Androids and rail-gun battles. What more could you want?
They don't have an emission spectrum that can be analyzed?
An article about astronomical observations of a gas and so far we've already got three fart jokes and one random insult. I see Slashdot is living up to form.
(And what did Phil Plait ever do to you AC? Or do you have an irrational grudge against any scientists who actually tries to educate laypeople?)
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
tibanna gas mine
It sounds like a ploy to keep the funds flowing for Cassini.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Uranus?
Someone had to do it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycyclic_aromatic_hydrocarbon ...PAHs, subjected to interstellar medium (ISM) conditions, are transformed, through hydrogenation, oxygenation and hydroxylation, to more complex organics - "a step along the path toward amino acids and nucleotides, the raw materials of proteins and DNA, respectively".
Origins of life PAH world hypothesis
Reminds me of a Star Trek episode or two where they mistakenly take about some glowing air or sand or some such and it turns out to be sentient. Or could be some bizarre bacteria that flourishes in that environment. Heck we've found silicon based flora in our own deep oceans.
So we have a planetoid enveloped in a vaporous cloud of mysterious matter, which is unknown to science.
Well, I've seen enough old Star Trek episodes to know that it's almost certainly a malevolent disembodied life form, which was left imprisoned on that desolate moon eons ago to keep it from threatening other civilizations throughout the galaxy.
Unfortunately, the Huygens probe has probably now provided it with the tools it needs to transport itself off the moon, most likely in a bid to attack and take over our planet Earth. Since it's probably invulnerable to any technology we posess, our only hope is to cleverly lure it into some kind of trap where it will destroy itself, most likely in a large explosion.
That's all.
But NASA needs some good PR.
Which is a good enough motive these days.
That IO has left a huge toroid of highly charged sulfur atoms running around Jupiter and that perhaps Titan's atmosphere is just banging into that cloud and what we're witnessing is sulfur ionizing at high altitude? Just a thought? Of course it does seem to have a solar component ("happens on the sunlit side", but that might be explained by expansion of the Titan atmosphere do to solar heating... or not.)
That or it could all be a simple problem with swamp gas... what would compose swamp gas on a frozen hydrocabon planet... AMMONIA!!! And there you have it.
Pumbaa: Hey, Timon, ever wonder what those sparkly dots are up there?
Timon: Pumbaa, I don't wonder; I know.
Pumbaa: Oh. What are they?
Timon: They're fireflies. Fireflies that, uh... got stuck up on that big bluish-black thing.
Pumbaa: Oh, gee. I always thought they were balls of gas burning billions of miles away.
Timon: Pumbaa, with you, everything's gas.
When they're going to probe the mysterious gas in Uranus.
Obviously the Titans gorged themselves on Greek gods and are having indigestion.
Hopefully they can also investigate the mysterious gas coming out of uranus.
Maybe?
I mean, who doesn't?
given their ineptitude with launching satellites, i'd say North Korea just tried to nuke us.
*groan over the uranus, fartgas, and other dumb jokes.*
Anyway, since this is occuring over the sunlit side of the moon, and that the moon is very far away from the sun, and that solar wind particle action on the moon's atmosphere would be shockingly small, (Saturn's magnetic field would push a good deal away, and even then the distance means a radically lower conentration than we are used to dealing with, meaning solar ions are unlikely as a cause.) Is it possible that there are tiny organic molecules up there with a fluorescent property?
Titan has lots of methane, nitrogen, and ambient radiation from Saturn. Tiny particles just a few molecules in size suspended in the upper atmosphere would be all that's needed. Essentially, glow in the dark organic dust?
It would be interesting to see if there are other re-emission falloff zones in that part of the atmosphere relating to the e-ring charge emissions from Saturn, and other nearby energy sources that could excite a light emitting molecule.
clash of the titans?
It's GAS MUSIC from JUPITER!!!
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
Or does aurora come to mind?
I'm the only Slashdotter who's read John Varley?
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Now lets get to work on those moon cats!
... they both get excited about a probe to uranus
They just elected a pope.
It's not a gas it's a plasmid, russelian science strikes again!!!
DUN DUN DUN.