Scientists reconsider life on Saturn's moon
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Recent findings from NASA's Cassini spacecraft and new discoveries about organisms here on Earth that thrive in extreme conditions are causing scientists to rethink the possibility that there may be life on Saturn's cloudy moon Titan.
Analyzing data from Cassini's recent Titan flybys, scientists at the Southwestern Research Institute (SwRI) in Texas and Washington State University announced last week that several of the key elements crucial for life on Earth are also present on Titan, including liquid reservoirs, organic molecules and ample energy sources.
Discovered in 1655 by a Dutch astronomer, Titan is the second largest moon in the solar system apart from Jupiter's Ganymede. Looking around, a person standing on Titan's surface would see rocky fields strewn with small ice pebbles. Gazing up, one would see clouds racing across the orange Titan sky as if on fast forward, because like Venus, Titan's atmosphere rotates much faster than its surface. Saturn and its magnificent rings would not be visible most of the time, due to the dense haze of orange smog that blankets the entire moon.
Recent findings from NASA's Cassini spacecraft and new discoveries about organisms here on Earth that thrive in extreme conditions are causing scientists to rethink the possibility that there may be life on Saturn's cloudy moon Titan.
Analyzing data from Cassini's recent Titan flybys, scientists at the Southwestern Research Institute (SwRI) in Texas and Washington State University announced last week that several of the key elements crucial for life on Earth are also present on Titan, including liquid reservoirs, organic molecules and ample energy sources.
Discovered in 1655 by a Dutch astronomer, Titan is the second largest moon in the solar system apart from Jupiter's Ganymede. Looking around, a person standing on Titan's surface would see rocky fields strewn with small ice pebbles. Gazing up, one would see clouds racing across the orange Titan sky as if on fast forward, because like Venus, Titan's atmosphere rotates much faster than its surface. Saturn and its magnificent rings would not be visible most of the time, due to the dense haze of orange smog that blankets the entire moon.
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