Titan's methane unlikely to stem from living organisms

[pmbryant]

From AP: Jan 27 2005

Scientists Scan Data From Saturn's Moon

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:44 a.m. ET

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Saturn's largest moon contains all the ingredients for life, but senior scientists studying data from a European probe ruled out the possibility Titan's abundant methane stems from living organisms.

...

``This methane cannot be coming from living organisms,'' Jean-Pierre Lebreton, mission manager for the Huygens probe that landed on the surface of Titan Jan. 14, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

...

But unlike water in the Earth's atmosphere that continually renews itself, methane is destroyed by ultraviolet light, so Titan must have a source deep inside, scientists said.

Based on data collected by Huygens' instruments, Sushil Atreya, a professor of planetary science at the University of Michigan in the United States, believes a hydro-geological process between water and rocks deep inside the moon could be producing the methane.

...

Titan has the ingredients for living organisms, including nitrogen, methane and water, but not in the right combinations. Far more information is needed to glean any insights into activity on young Earth, Atreya said.

...

More: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/science/AP-Europe-Titan-Mission.html

[On the Road]

1. No Surprise There

but what about the methane on Mars? I'm waiting for that to be explained.

[WildClarySage]

3. Don't be silly, martians don't fart.

[oneighty]

2. Good

I was so afraid of asking that question.

But could the same process be taking place in the innards of our planet?

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