Saturn’s Moon Titan has Liquid
Posted on August 1, 2008 in Current Affairs by Danteshwari
Liquid was discovered on Titan, moon of Saturn, which meant that it was the only body in the entire solar system, which went beyond earth, on which liquid could be found, according to US space agency Nasa.
This discovery was made with the help of data available on an instrument located aboard the spacecraft Cassini. This instrument can identify different materials, which include liquid hydrocarbons depending upon the way they reflect and absorb infrared light.
Scientists had earlier believed that there would be global oceans consisting of ethane, methane and light hydrocarbons. But on the other hand over 40 close flybys of the Titan by Cassini indicate that such global oceans do not exist. Until the present times, one was not aware whether these fathers were dark and solid material or liquid.
Bob Brown, University of Arizona, Tuscon claims that this was the first observation that indicates that a surface lake full of liquid is on the Titan. Brown heads the mapping and visual instrument of Cassini. Several simple hydrocarbons and ethane have been observed in Titan’s atmosphere, which contains 95% nitrogen, with 5% being methane.
The identification of liquid ethane was done by a technique that did not permit the interference by the atmospheric hydrocarbons. The mapping and visual instrument took note of a lake, known as Ontario Lacu, in the southern polar area of the Titan during the close flyby of the Cassini in December 2007. The area of the lake is around 7,800 square miles, a bit larger than Lake Ontario in North America.
Larry Soderblom, who is a scientist in Cassini interdisciplinary at the US Geological Survey is of the view that the discovery of liquid ethane confirms the long-held view that seas and lakes filled with ethane and methane did exist on Titan.
The ethane is in the form of liquid solution with ethane, nitrogen and other hydrocarbons. These substances can be in the form of liquid and gas at the surface temperature of Titan, which is around 300 degrees Farenheit below zero.
There is evidence of rain, evaporation and fluid-carved channels, which drain into a lake consisting of liquid hydrocarbon.
Scientists of course claim that there is no water ice, ammonia hydrate, ammonia and carbon dioxide in Ontario Lacus. They also feel that the lake is evaporating. It is surrounded by a dark beach, with the black lake merging into the bright shoreline.
Source: TOI August 1, 2008
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