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| Piú votate - Titan: The "Foggy" Moon |
Titan-Islands-IMG001328-br500.jpgBright white Islands57 visiteCaption NASA originale:"(...) flow around bright 'islands'. The areas below and above the bright islands may be at different elevations". Riprendendo quanto dicevamo in sede di commento al frame precedente, una teoria abbastanza "esotica" - ma da non scartare aprioristicamente - ci dice che la superficie di Titano si è scaldata in epoche (relativamente) remote a seguito di un violentissimo impatto il quale, pur sconvolgendo il pianeta, ha prodotto non solo calore sufficiente a mantenere Titano "caldo" per ere, ma lo ha pure "geologicamente risvegliato".
Dunque su Titano, in accordo a questa teoria, dovremmo trovare svariate fornaci vulcaniche attive, sia superficiali, sia sotterranee. Questo, forse, è il segreto della "vitalità" di Titano.
Purtroppo, come Vi accennavamo, non abbiamo ancora nessuna prova per dare sostanza a questa teoria ma, in fondo, ogni scoperta nasce da un'ipotesi e questa specifica ipotesi, secondo noi, è azzardata, ma NON inverosimile (fonte: ESA).
Voi che ne dite?
(4 voti)
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Titan-Rivers-Unnamed_River_and_Tributaries-PIA07236.jpgA "Great River" and several Tributaries on Titan58 visiteCaption NASA originale:"This mosaic of three frames from the Huygens Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer (DISR) instrument provides unprecedented detail of the high ridge area including the flow down into a major river channel from different sources".
Un fiume di idrocarburi (?) scorre quietamente su Titano, ben alimentato da svariati affluenti. Un'immagine eccezionale e che ci riporta - forse - agli albori del nostro Mondo. Qui, su Titano, forse sta nascendo qualcosa; ma che cosa può riuscire a sopravvivere e ad alimentarsi con una temperatura media di -180°C?
Forse gli orizzonti della Vita sono molto più grandi di quanto la nostra Scienza e la nostra capacità di capire sono pronte ad accettare.
Forse.
(4 voti)
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Titan-Huygens_Landing_Site-14.jpgHuygens' landing site: best estimate66 visiteIn questa immagine il Centro Controllo Missione di Darmstadt ci fornisce la sua "migliore supposizione" (best estimate) sul punto in cui la Sonda Huygens potrebbe trovarsi adesso. Certo, la certezza assoluta sul punto di impatto non potremo averla mai, a meno che, un domani, non si vada direttamente su Titano a cercarla... Comunque sia, le ultime informazioni ricevute ed elaborate ci dicono che Huygens non è caduta nè dentro un mare od un lago di Titano, nè (propriamente) su una superficie rocciosa. La Sonda ESA, a quanto pare, si è adagiata su un'area fangosa, probabilmente in prossimità di un mare (di idrocarburi?).
Huygens, salvo l'occorrere di eventi imprevisti ed imprevedibili, trascorrerà i prossimi millenni esattamente nel punto dove è caduta, su un mondo affascinante - ancorchè gelido e lontano -, a circa - 180°C. La domanda è: andremo mai a riprenderla?!?...
(4 voti)
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Titan-Huygens_Landing_Site-10-PIA06173_modest.jpgHuygens' descent map (2)58 visiteCaption NASA originale:"For about two hours, the probe will fall by parachute from an altitude of 160 Km (99 miles) to Titan's surface. During the descent the DISR and a few other science instruments will send data about the moon's atmosphere and surface back to the Cassini spacecraft for relay to Earth. The DISR will take pictures as the probe slowly spins and some of these will be made into panoramic views of Titan's surface.
The first map (PIA-06172) shows expected coverage by the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer side-looking imager and two downward-looking imagers - one providing medium-resolution and the other high-resolution coverage. The planned coverage by the medium- and high-resolution imagers is the subject of this map (PIA-06173)".
(4 voti)
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Titan-Clouds-South_Polar_White_Clouds-PIA06510_modest.jpgWhite Clouds near the South Pole of Titan57 visiteThis image shows Titan, Saturn's largest moon (5.150 Km - 3.200 miles - across), with a streak-like cloud near its South Pole. The cloud may be part of a region of polar clouds seen during Cassini’s first flyby of Titan in July 2004, only now covering a larger area.
Titan's atmosphere, like that of Earth, is mostly nitrogen. The pressure at Titan’s surface is 50% higher than on Earth, despite its lower gravity, meaning that the mass of the atmosphere per unit area is more than 10 times that on Earth.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Sept. 23, 2004, at a distance of 7.1 MKMs (4.4 million miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 84°.
The image scale is 42 Km (26 miles) per pixel.
(4 voti)
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Titan-PIA06980_modest.jpgTitan: a "Secret Dream" for the Oil Companies"?55 visiteTitano, a quanto è emerso sino ad ora, potrebbe davvero essere (o diventare) un "sogno" per le grandi Multinazionali Petrolifere del nostro Pianeta. Perchè? Osservate il grafico e leggete le note originali NASA...:"This graph shows data acquired by Cassini as it flew by Titan at an altitude of 1.200 Km on Oct. 26, 2004 - its closest approach yet to the Hazy Moon. The data is from Cassini's ion and neutral mass spectrometer, which detects charged and neutral particles in the atmosphere. The graph reveals a diversity of hydrocarbons in the high atmosphere above Titan, including benzene and diacetylene". Ora, una delle tante (e neanche tanto nascoste...) verità che giacciono alle spalle dell'esplorazione spaziale, è nella ricerca di fonti energetiche significative e sfruttabili. Titano sembra proprio essere un Pianeta costituito - prevalentemente - da idrocarburi. La domanda è: premesso che un interesse commerciale può esistere, come fare a sfruttare le risorse di Titano in maniera economicamente vantaggiosa?
(4 voti)
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Titan-Close Up 5.jpgTitan's fly-by "A" - Close-up 557 visitenessun commento
(4 voti)
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Titan-Close Up 2.jpgTitan's fly-by "A" - Close-up 256 visiteE' ancora troppo presto per sbilanciarsi in ipotesi e teorie sulla struttura e la relativa storia geologica di Titano, ma una cosa si può già dire con certezza (e non spariamo nel buio: anche alla NASA si sono già pronunciati in questo senso): la superficie di questo Mondo Nebbioso è davvero particolare. Essa, in realtà, ci mostra i segni di qualche cratere da impatto, ma sembra che si tratti davvero di poca cosa rispetto alla condizione del suolo delle altre Lune di Saturno.
Certo, la presenza di una (spessa?) atmosfera costituisce già un filtro/scudo eccellente contro gli impatti "minori", ma non è tutto qui. I primi dettagli significativi della superficie della Hazy Moon, infatti, lasciano già chiaramente intuire l'esistenza di processi geologici complessi i quali, forse, sono ancora in corso.
La domanda, a questo punto, diventa ovvia: Titano è un pianeta ancora "vivo"?...
(4 voti)
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Titan-MF-EB-LXTT-IPF~0.jpgLakeland (Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Elisabetta Bonora and Marco Faccin/LXTT/IPF)97 visiteIl Polo Nord di Titano, con i suoi Grandi Laghi di "Idrocarburi Affioranti" che emergono dalla nebbia. Bellissima.MareKromium
(3 voti)
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Titan-Fensal_and_Aztlan-PIA07732-PCF-LXTT-IPF-1.jpgFensal (EDM - Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)58 visiteDuring its September 7, 2005, Fly-By of the Saturnian moon Titan, the NASA - Cassini Spacecraft acquired a series of images of a Territory located on the moon's Saturn-facing Hemisphere that were afterwards assembled so to create this small mosaic: once known only as "The H" (because this whole Region looks something like the letter "H", when oriented on its side), the Surface Features visible here now possess provisional names that were assigned to them by the International Astronomical Union (or "IAU", for short).
The Northern Branch of "The H" (shown in this EDM) is now called "Fensal," while the Southern Branch is known as "Aztlan."
Fensal is littered with small "Island-like Landforms" ranging in size from about 5 to 40 Km (such as from approx. 3,1 to a little less than 25 miles) across. These Landforms currently are thought to be Water-Ice Upland Areas (---> kind of small Hills), surrounded by shallower Terrain that is filled-in with dark Particulate Material probably precipitated from the Lower Atmosphere of Titan. In Western Fensal, a few larger Islands can also be seen, like Bazaruto Facula (visible in the upper right corner here and containing what seems to be an Impact Crater or, maybe, a Volcainc Edifice). When viewed in images of Shangri-La (another Titanian Region located on the opposite side of Titan as to Fensal and Aztlan), the Island-like Landforms of this size tend to occur in "clusters" (---> groups) with an apparent so-called "Preferred Orientation" (perhaps due to the action of the Dominant Winds blowing over those Territories). The small Islands found in Fensal, instead, appear much more scattered (and most of them appear roughly circular), although a few Islands do have (show) an East-West orientation to their long axis.
The mosaic is centered at 7° North Latitude and 21° West Longitude on Titan and the frames composing it were taken by the NASA - Cassini Spacecraft Narrow-Angle Camera using a filter sensitive to Wavelengths of Near-InfrarRed Light centered at 938 nanometers. They were acquired at distances ranging from approximately 200.600 to 191.800 Km (such as from about 124.572 to 119.108 miles) from Titan. The Mean Resolution in the images forming the mosaic is about 2 Km (such as 1,242 miles) per pixel.
This picture (which has been cropped from an Original NASA - Cassini Spacecraft b/w image-mosaic published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal and identified by the n. PIA 07732) has been additionally processed, magnified, contrast enhanced and then colorized, according to an educated guess 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 Clouds and Hazes (as well as the luminosity of the Surface of Titan itself), as seen in this mosaic, would appear, to an average human eye, way lower than it has been shown (or, better yet: interpreted) here.MareKromium
(3 voti)
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Titan-N00199279-84-False_and_Natural_Color-EB-MF-LXTT-IPF.jpgVisions of Titan (Superdefinition, False Colors - Left-Sx - Calibrated Natural Colors - Right-Dx -; credits for the additional process. and color.: Elisabetta Bonora and Marco Faccin/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation) 73 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
(3 voti)
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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)110 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
(3 voti)
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