A new study of data from NASA’s bountiful Cassini mission shows that Titan’s largest methane sea, Kraken Mare, is at least 1,000 feet – 300 meters – deep near its center. That’s plenty of room for a future robotic submarine to explore. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/titans-largest-sea-kraken-mare-is-1000-feet-deep…
Tag: Cassini
What’s the weather like on Titan?
Most of the planets in our solar system have some sort of atmosphere and many have dynamic weather systems. But only one moon in the solar system, Saturn’s large moon Titan, can say the same. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/titan-saturns-moon-weather-seasons-methane-rain-storms…
Largest sea on Titan could be more than 1,000 feet deep
Data from one of Cassini’s last flybys of Titan probed the depths of Kraken Mare to better understand the moon’s alien chemistry. Source: https://www.livescience.com/saturn-moon-titan-sea-1000-feet-deep.html
Puzzling signal on Saturn’s moon Rhea may finally be explained
NASA’s Cassini mission spotted a strange signal coming from Saturn’s second-largest moon Rhea – it may be from hydrazine, a compound often used in rocket fuel Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2265635-puzzling-signal-on-saturns-moon-rhea-may-finally-be-explained/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
How will the U.S. space program fare under Joe Biden?
Joe Biden is the United States presidential election winner, but his plans for NASA remain unclear. And while citizens digest the election results, the space industry is left wondering what comes next. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/how-will-the-u-s-space-program-fare-under-joe-biden…
Watch a Saturn moon ballet
A new spin on the Nutcracker Suite, featuring the moons of Saturn. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/saturn-moon-ballet-nutcracker-suite-video…
Data models point to a potentially diverse metabolic menu at Enceladus
Using data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, scientists at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) modeled chemical processes in the subsurface ocean of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The studies indicate the possibility that a varied metabolic menu could support a potentially diverse microbial community in the liquid water ocean beneath the moon’s icy facade. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-potentially-diverse-metabolic-menu-enceladus.html…
How Jupiter’s moon Io gets its hellish atmosphere
Hot, active volcanoes produce almost half of Jupiter’s moon Io’s sulfur atmosphere, according to new observations using the ALMA telescope. The rest comes from cold sulfur deposits that freeze on the surface, then sublimate in sunlight. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/io-sulfur-volcanoes-hot-so2-cold-so2…
Impact craters reveal details of Titan’s dynamic surface weathering
Scientists have used data from NASA’s Cassini mission to delve into the impact craters on the surface of Titan, revealing more detail than ever before about how the craters evolve and how weather drives changes on the surface of Saturn’s mammoth moon. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-10-impact-craters-reveal-titan-dynamic.html…
Are there active geysers at Enceladus’ north pole?
Water-vapor geysers erupt from cracks at the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Scientists using Cassini data now have evidence for fresh ice at the moon’s north pole, too. Could it be more geysers for this fascinating ice moon? Source: https://earthsky.org/space/fresh-ice-enceladus-north-pole-geologic-activity…