Titan's Seas Are Sand

User rating: 4.7 / 5 after 51 vote(s)

Cassini radar sees sand dunes on Saturns giant moon Titan (upper photo) that are sculpted like Namibian sand dunes on Earth (lower photo). The bright features in the upper radar photo are not clouds but topographic features among the dunes. (Photo: N ...
Cassini radar sees sand dunes on Saturn's giant moon Titan (upper photo) that are sculpted like Namibian sand dunes on Earth (lower photo). The bright features in the upper radar photo are not clouds but topographic features among the dunes. (Photo: NASA/JPL - upper photo; NASA - lower photo)

Until a couple of years ago, scientists thought the dark equatorial regions of Titan might be liquid oceans. New radar evidence shows they are seas -- but seas of sand dunes like those in the Arabian or Namibian Deserts, a University of Arizona member of the Cassini radar team and colleagues report in Science (May 5).


Full story »
All News summaries from Space & Earth science news
All News summaries for May 04, 2006

A new era in search for 'sister Earths'?

1 hour ago | User rating: not rated yet
Research presented at a recent astronomical conference is being hailed as ushering in a new era in the search for Earth-like planets by showing that they are more numerous than previously thought and that ...

'Impressionist' Spacecraft to View Solar System's Invisible Frontier

2 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- At the edge of our solar system in December 2004, the Voyager 1 spacecraft encountered something never before experienced during its then 26-year cruise through the solar system — an invisible ...

NASA Successfully Tests Parachute for Ares Rocket

2 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA and industry engineers have successfully completed the first drop test of a drogue parachute for the Ares I rocket. The drogue parachute is designed to slow the rapid descent of the spent first-stage ...

Partial Solar Eclipse visible from the UK on the morning of 1st August

7 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
On 1st August 2008 there will be a total eclipse of the Sun, visible from Canada, northern Greenland, Svalbard, the Barents Sea, Russia, Mongolia and China. From the whole of the British Isles observers will see a partial ...

Rising energy, food prices major threats to wetlands as farmers eye new areas for crops

11 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Critical food shortages and growing demand for bio-fuels and hydro-electricity due to high fossil fuel prices rank among the greatest threats today to the preservation of precious wetlands worldwide as farmers and developers ...
Goto Archive PhysOrg Forum Goto Archive Video Goto Archive Editorials Goto Archive Free Magazines Goto Archive Newsletter

News Archive