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Titan-Shangri_La_Region-PIA08971-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgThrough the Fog: Shangri-la (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)106 visiteThis view of Titan's Surface highlights a small portion of the North-Western Region known as Shangri-la: a large, Equatorial, Dark Region that radar observations revealed to be covered by Longitudinal Dunefields. The bright, Circular Feature visible right of center is a potential Impact Crater (one of the very few Impact Craters that have been spotted on Titan so far).
North on Titan is up and rotated about 15° to the right. This view was created by combining multiple images taken using a combination of spectral filters sensitive to Wavelengths of InfraRed Light centered at 938 and 619 nanometers. The images were taken with the NASA - Cassini Spacecraft Narrow-Angle Camera on May 13, 2007, at a distance of approximately 125.000 Km (such as about 77.000 miles) from Titan. Image scale is roughly 1 Km (such as approx. 0,6 miles) per pixel. Due to scattering of light by Titan's hazy Atmosphere, the size of the Surface Features that can be resolved is a few times larger than the actual pixel scale.
This picture (which is an Original NASA - Cassini Spacecraft b/w image-mosaic published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal and identified by the n. PIA 08971) has been additionally processed and then colorized, according to an informed speculation carried out by Dr Paolo C. Fienga (LXTT-IPF), in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - Cassini Spacecraft and then looked outside, towards the Saturnian moon Titan), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team. Different colors, as well as different shades of the same color, mean, among others, the existence of different Elements present in the Atmosphere and on the Surface of Titan, each having a different Albedo (---> Reflectivity) and Chemical Composition.
Note: it is possible (but we, as IPF, have no way to be one-hundred-percent sure of such a circumstance), that the actual luminosity of the Albedo Feature seen in this frame would appear, to an average human eye, way lower than it has been shown (better yet: interpreted) here.MareKromium
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Titan-Shoreline-PIA03563_modest.jpgShoreline on Titan?54 visiteCaption originale:"This SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) image of the surface of Saturn's moon Titan, was obtained by the Cassini spacecraft on Sept. 7, 2005. The bright, rough Region on the left side of the image seems to be topographically "high terrain" that is cut by "channels" and "bays".
The boundary of the bright (rough) Region and the dark (smooth) Region appears to be a "shoreline". The patterns in the dark area indicate that it may once have been flooded, with the liquid having at least partially receded.
The image is 175 Km high and 330 Km wide (about 109 by 205 miles), and is located at 66 degrees south latitude, 356° West Longitude in the Southern Hemisphere of Titan".
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Titan-Shoreline_and_Drainage_Channels-00.jpgShoreline and Drainage Channels' Network on Titan 55 visiteCaption ESA originale:"This is one of the first raw images returned by the ESA Huygens probe during its successful descent. It was taken from an altitude of 16,2 Km with a resolution of approximately 40 metres per pixel. It apparently shows short, stubby drainage channels leading to a shoreline".
Il profilo di un tratto costiero, dunque: montagne (o colline), una fitta rete di canali ed una porzione di "mare" alla vista. Mare.
Già, ma un mare fatto di cosa?...
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Titan-Shoreline_and_Drainage_Channels-01.jpgShoreline and Drainage Channels' Network on Titan (possible True Colors; credits: Lunar Explorer Italia)54 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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Titan-Shoreline_and_Drainage_Channels-02a.jpgShoreline and Drainage Channels56 visiteUn'altra istantanea di Titano ripresa durante la quieta discesa di Huygens verso la superficie di questo mondo ritenuto dagli Scienziati e dai Ricercatori di tutto il Mondo come una "versione gelida" (temperatura media di superficie: circa -180°C) di quello che era la Terra ai suoi albori.
L'atmosfera di Titano è prevalentemente costituita da azoto, con l'aggiunta di metano ed altri elementi di natura organica.
Si noti che alcuni di questi "organic compounds", se riscontrati nell'atmosfera di un corpo celeste simile alla Terra, sarebbero indici forti dell'esistenza di forma di vita indigene. Sulla Terra, infatti, la formazione del metano è legata all'esistenza di forme di vita nel senso che il metano stesso è un sottoprodotto ("by-product") del metabolismo di svariati organismi. E' la Vita stessa, insomma, che sulla Terra contribuisce a ricostituire continuamente le scorte di metano, sostituendo quello andato distrutto per ossidazione. Ma su Titano? Da dove viene tutto il metano che abbiamo scoperto?
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Titan-Shoreline_and_Drainage_Channels-02b.jpgShoreline and Drainage Channels' Network on Titan (possible True Colors; credits: Lunar Explorer Italia)62 visiteDa un frame "Huygens", la ricostruzione in possibili Colori Veri (ma con saturazione leggermente aumentata, per favorire la visibilità dei dettagli) del panorama che un ipotetico Astronauta, in discesa verso "la Luna Nebbiosa", si troverebbe davanti agli occhi.MareKromium
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Titan-Shoreline_and_Drainage_Channels-03.jpgShoreline and Drainage Channels57 visiteCaption ESA originale:"This is one of the first raw images returned by the ESA Huygens probe during its successful descent.It was taken at an altitude of 8 Km with a resolution of 20 metres per pixel. It shows what could be the landing site, with shorelines and boundaries between raised ground and flooded plains".
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Titan-Shoreline_and_Drainage_Channels-04.jpgShoreline and Drainage Channels (Mosaic)55 visiteCaption ESA originale:"This composite was produced from images returned yesterday, 14 January 2005, by ESA's Huygens probe during its successful descent to land on Titan. It shows a full 360-degree view around Huygens. The left-hand side, behind Huygens, shows a boundary between light and dark areas. The white streaks seen near this boundary could be ground 'fog' of methane or ethane vapour, as they were not immediately visible from higher altitudes. As the probe descended, it drifted over a plateau (centre of image) and was heading towards its landing site in a dark area (right). This dark area is possibly a drainage channel which might still contain liquid material. From the drift of the probe, the wind speed has been estimated at around 6-7 mt per second. These images were taken from an altitude of about 8 Km with a resolution of about 20 mt per pixel".
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Titan-South_Polar_Vortex-PIA17163-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgDouble Crescent (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/IPF)57 visiteTitan's South Polar Vortex mimics the moon itself, creating - as you can (barely) see in this frame, taken by the NASA - Cassini Spacecraft on December, 1, 2013 - a somehow elegant "crescent within a crescent". In fact, situated above the (surrounding) South Polar Atmosphere, the raised Walls of the Vortex, which stand along its Sunward Side, can just catch the grazing Sunlight, thus creating a "crescent" of its own. Titan (that, as you should know by now, is approx. 3200 miles - such as about 5149,88 Km - across) is Saturn's largest moon and possesses an extremely dense and ultra-dynamic Atmosphere, whose true characteristics are still a mistery.
Speaking of unanswered questions as well as problems which are still unsolved, we have to say - as IPF - that the true nature (---> meaning Seasonal or Permanent) of the South Polar Vortex keeps being, up to now, an highly controversial subject in the Planetary Scientists' Community. However, a definitive answer about the aforementioned question - and we like to say "obviously" -, will come, in a way or another, in time. For now, the only - truly - wise thing to do, is to keep looking...
This view looks toward the Trailing Hemisphere of Titan and North is up. The image was taken with the NASA - Cassini Spacecraft Wide-Angle Camera - as we wrote herebefore - on December, 1, 2013, by using a Spectral Filter which preferentially admits Wavelengths of Near-InfraRed Light centered at 939 nanometers. This frame was obtained at a distance of approximately 108.000 miles (such as about 173.808,72 Km) from Titan and the scale is roughly 6 miles (such as approx. 9,65 Km ) per pixel.
This frame (which is an Original NASA - CASSINI Spacecraft's b/w and NON Map-Projected image published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 17163) has been additionally processed, contrast enhanced, magnified to aid the visibility of the details, Gamma corrected and then colorized - according to an educated guess (or, if you wish, an informed speculation) carried out by Dr Paolo C. Fienga - in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - Cassini Spacecraft and then looked outside, towards the Saturnian moon "Titan"), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team. Different colors, as well as different shades of the same color, mean, among other things, the existence of different Elements (Gases) present in the Atmosphere of Titan, each having a different Albedo (---> Reflectivity) and Chemical Composition.
Note: it is possible (but we, as IPF, have no way to be one-hundred-percent sure of such a circumstance), that the actual luminosity of Titan - as it is in this frame - would appear, to an average human eye, a little bit lower than it has been shown (or, better yet: interpreted) here.MareKromium
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Titan-Surface-00-LS28_PSS_LASoderblom_VIMSRADAR20070323.jpgHuygens Probe Landing Site54 visiteThis image composite shows three different views of the Huygens landing site. The top image was obtained by Cassini’s VIMS instrument in the infrared. The middle one is a mosaic of all the images obtained by the DISR visible camera on board Huygens, and shows surface features. The bottom image was obtained by Cassini’s SAR radar. MareKromium
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Titan-Surface-20.gifThe "Polygonal" Surface of Titan (GIF-Movie; credits: Dr A. Feltri)123 visitePurtroppo (ed ormai da tempo) il Dr Feltri ha smesso di scrivere sulle pagine di Lunar Explorer Italia e quindi, per illustrare in modo adeguato questo (straordinario) GIF-Movie, dovremmo provare ad interpretare le sue missive e quindi riassumere il suo pensiero: un'opera improba, ahinoi!...
Comunque sia, osservate attentamente questo montaggio di immagini rappresentative del suolo presente al di sotto della Sonda Huygens: che cosa notate in particolare? Il dettaglio è talmente evidente che non dovremmo neppure esplicitarlo ma...lo facciamo lo stesso: la texture della superficie di Titano è rappresentata da una sorta di maglia reticolare, in cui ogni reticolo ha una forma perfettamente esagonale (ATTENZIONE: potrebbe anche trattarsi di una banalissima maglia metallica di protezione del vano in cui è posizionata la fotocamera, ma non abbiamo elementi a supporto di una tale, pur logica, ipotesi).
I movimenti ed i cambi di albedo che vedete nel filmato potrebbero indicare una regolare "pulsazione" del suolo (se vogliamo essere ultra-esotici), oppure potrebbero essere indici del passaggio, su di esso, di una leggera corrente d'aria e/o di un fluido.
Il greto del torrente su cui Huygens è discesa è - forse - solo parzialmente asciutto? Probabilmente si. Probabilmente, al di sotto della Sonda, ancora scorre qualcosa. Qualcosa che riflette ed amplifica - sia pure debolmente - le luci del paesaggio circostante.
Ma l'elemento essenziale del filmato, lo ripetiamo, è nella texture del suolo (ammettendo che non sia l'evidenza di una griglia di protezione della fotocamera): una specie di struttura ad alveare, costituita da un materiale che ci appare (evidentemente) traslucido e che - forse - ha una matrice cristallina (se non altro in parte).
La teorizzazione del Dr Feltri è troppo articolata e complessa per essere riassunta in una caption di questo tipo e quindi ci fermiamo qui, invitando il nostro Amico Alessio a scrivere qualcosa al riguardo, se vuole.
Qualcosa che, se scritta, verrà certamente pubblicata nella seconda parte di "Oltre la Nebbia": la nostra (piccola) monografia su Titano, di prossima uscita su TruePlanets.
E se invece il bravissimo Dr Feltri non scriverà nulla, allora proveremo noi a dire qualcosa su questa "evidenza visiva" relativa all'esistenza di un qualche tipo di processo (biochimico? Biomagnetico? O forse un Tertium Genus?!?) il quale, attualmente in corso sulla Luna Nebbiosa, è talmente straordinario da meritare TUTTA LA NOSTRA ATTENZIONE!
Ed ora, se volete, attendiamo i Vostri commenti...MareKromium
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Titan-Surface-30.jpgOn the surface of Titan55 visiteCaption ESA originale:"This raw image was returned by the ESA Huygens DISR camera after the probe descended through the atmosphere of Titan. It shows the surface of Titan with ice blocks strewn around. The size and distance of the blocks will be determined when the image is properly processed". Dunque Huygens ce l'ha fatta: è scesa su Titano! E la qualità di queste prime immagini supera le nostre più rosee aspettative: la visibilità è buona e questa parte di Titano sembra ricordarci - vagamente - la superficie di Venere, così come ripresa dalle Sonde Sovietiche "Venera".
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