Evidence of hydrocarbon lakes on Titan

[tocqueville]

By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer
Mon Jul 24, 10:13 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - Scientists said Monday they have found the first widespread evidence of giant hydrocarbon lakes on the surface of Saturn's planet-size moon Titan.

The cluster of lakes was spotted near Titan's frigid north pole during a weekend flyby by the international Cassini spacecraft, which flew within 590 miles of the moon.

Researchers counted about a dozen lakes six to 62 miles wide. Some, which appeared as dark patches in radar images, were connected by channels, while others had tributaries flowing into them. Several were dried up, but the ones that contained liquid were most likely a mix of methane and ethane.

"It was a real potpourri," said Cassini scientist Jonathan Lunine of the University of Arizona

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060725/ap_on_sc/saturn_titan_2

[ret5hd]

1. Nuke the bastids!!!

And i ridicule any bit of clothing Titans wear that is not exactly like mine!

[XemaSab]

2. Woohoo! We're going to war with Titan!

(Dude, it'll pay for itself!)

[tocqueville]

3. here are the pics

[Arctic W Fox]

4. Interesting...

I think I see Osama's hideout.

[bemildred]

5. Titan is a terrorist threat. Invade now! nt

[Phoonzang]

6. I'll go with that...

anything to get some progress in the space program... :)

[bemildred]

7. Indeed, we need to get started on a pipeline. nt

[Ready4Change]

8. Let me tell ya all a story...

... about a probe named Cassini
It took a little flyby,
Found a hydrocarbon martini,
When up from the Earth rose a fat ol' greedy fleet,
To fill up all the tanks of the ignorant elite.

Rich folk they was. Big cars. Bigger emissions.

Pretty soon the cars they drove were 3 or 4 lanes wide,
All the poor folk on their bicycles HAD BETTER STEP ASIDE!
The air was hot with soot and the land was scorched and dry,
Pretty soon from all the CO2 the human race would die.

Most of them. Billions? Bye bye ya'all.

(Martian banjo riff)

[sakabatou]

9. Reminds me of the Canyonero theme

Can you name the truck with four wheel drive,
smells like a steak and seats thirty-five..

Canyonero! Canyonero!

Well, it goes real slow with the hammer down,
It's the country-fried truck endorsed by a clown!

Canyonero! (Yah!) Canyonero!
Hey Hey

The Federal Highway comission has ruled the
Canyonero unsafe for highway or city driving.

Canyonero!

12 yards long, 2 lanes wide,
65 tons of American Pride!

Canyonero! Canyonero!

Top of the line in utility sports,
Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts!

Canyonero! Canyonero! (Yah!)

She blinds everybody with her super high beams,
She's a squirrel crushing, deer smacking, driving machine!

Canyonero!-oh woah, Canyonero! (Yah!)

Drive Canyonero!

Woah Canyonero!

Woah!

[eppur_se_muova]

10. Impressive! nt

[ndw]

11. Enceladus is a better choice

Enceladus, Saturn's 6th largest moon, is geologically active. The current powers-that-be may have their sights set on Titan because it is the biggest moon. I think NASA bureaucrats are internalizing information (selectively hiding data by strategically blocking peer reviews of site info) concerning the internal structure differences between Titan and Enceladus. I think some bad people at NASA are doing this so they can later shill for commercial interests who want long term expropriations of natural space resources and who in turn rely on cooperation from government institutions in controlling dissemination of information about the presence and extraction feasibility of such resources. Prove me wrong!

" Mass estimates from the Voyager program missions suggested that Enceladus was composed almost entirely of water ice. However, based on the effects of Enceladus's gravity on Cassini, its mass was determined to be much higher than previously thought, yielding a density of 1.61 g/cm3. "

Enceladus' " density is higher than Saturn's other mid-sized icy satellites, indicating that Enceladus contains a greater percentage of silicates and iron. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enceladus_%28moon%29#Internal_structure