Lost lakes of Titan are found at last

[TechBear_Seattle]

Lost lakes of Titan are found at last

PARIS (AFP) - Lakes of methane have been spotted on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, boosting the theory that this strange, distant world bears beguiling similarities to Earth, according to a new study.

...

Given that Titan is billions of years old, the question is how this atmospheric methane gets to be renewed. Without replenishment, it should have disappeared long ago.

A popular hypothesis is that it comes from a vast ocean of hydrocarbons.

...

But a flyby by Cassini on July 22 last year has revealed, thanks to a radar scan, 75 large, smooth, dark patches between three and 70 kilometers across (two and 42 miles) across that appear to be lakes of liquid methane, scientists report on Thursday

The full article can be read at http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070103/sc_afp/spacesaturntitan_070103193516 This story is more recent than the excerpts imply.

[Deep13]

1. The nice thing about Titan:

The whole place already smells like farts, so there is no need to blame the dog.

[ixion]

2. lakes of liquid methane = bog of eternal stench

:+

[foo_bar]

5. for the record, methane is odorless

http://www.answers.com/topic/methane
http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/chemweek/methane/methane.html

[TechBear_Seattle]

8. I think the rotten smell of decay comes from sulfur compounds

Not hydrocarbons. I remember a chemistry experiment in high school where we heated paraffin and ground sulphur together to make hydrogen sulfide, the very gas that makes rotten eggs stink.

[notadmblnd]

3. reminds me of a little story my son wrote a couple of years ago.

"Planet Dorkon is a huge planet about 120,000 km in diameter. The atmosphere on Dorkon is 100% pure methane so it’s really smelly there and humans don’t like to visit. The planet is covered with bubbling brown lakes and is very nasty to fall into but causes the soil to be very rich. The weather is dark and dreary almost year round and a day last 5 weeks. Dorkon has an internal heat source -- it radiates more than twice as much energy as it receives from the Sun. Some scientific theories claim that the center of the planet is full of cows.

The planet Dorkon is populated by millions of beings called Dorks. The national pastime on
Dorkon is Chess and most Dorks are masters at the game. Dorks work mostly as farmers
or accountants and are very good at numbers. Their biggest agriculture product is a vegetable called Gallumpengluben and is very similar to what humans call potatoes here on Earth. Dorks are a very peaceful group of beings and only resort to violence if they have been sent here to Earth.

The Government on planet Dorkon is a democracy and leaders are elected every 15 years. The government consists of a president a vice president and one representative from every town on the planet. There has never been a war on planet Dorkon during its entire existence and if the people have any problems with their leaders a special meeting is called for and the problems are discussed. The meeting lasts until everyone has kissed and made up. There are no exceptions to this rule and sometimes a meeting will go on for what seems like forever.

Baby Dorks are assigned pocket protectors at birth and must be worn at all times. These pocket protectors serve as identification and is used by the government to track all citizens through their life. If a pocket protector is lost, Dorks are sentenced to 6 months of no school or books to read. After their sentence is served, a new pocket protector is assigned . If they lose it again, they are sent to Earth.

Once a Dork has been exiled to Earth, they usually become leaders in our government. Often they become CEOs in the defense industry or heads of our most greedy corporations. They are not used to breathing the air and this causes them to imagine all kinds of threats to the national security of Earth and convince the people that there has to be a war. Many innocent people are killed during these wars and the Dorks seem to get the strangest sense of pleasure when the numbers of people that are killed in the battles are high. These wars generate more money for their kind and when new dorks come to Earth they are usually accepted with open arms.

It is impossible to send a Dork back to his planet once they are here. They live very long lives here on Earth usually into their late 70’s and 80’s. This gives them the opportunity to cause the maximum damage to humans on this planet. They do this by convincing the people that they are good and wise and that they are the only ones that can keep them safe."

I had a feeling it really existed all along.

[murray hill farm]

4. What a great story!

Very talented, your son!

[On the Road]

6. Check Out the Pic

Very eerie. It's false color, but that's a real alien world we're looking at.

[TechBear_Seattle]

7. Not that alien

Lighten the blues and replace the tan with green, and this could easily be a sattelite view of rural Minnesota.

To actually stand there, on the shores of a hydrocarbon lake under a very distant sun with a ringed gas giant dominating the sky (assuming it was visible)... then it becomes an alien world.