New Opportunity For Beachfront Property
Some brand new prime real estate has just become available! Beachfront property on a lovely lake away from all the neighbors. Wear your snuggies though. The lake is made of liquid methane. The newly discovered lake is on Titan, one of Saturn's moons.
These are not bodies of water like those on Earth, but rather dark lakes of methane and possibly ethane. They are likely the source of the hydrocarbon smog in the moon's atmosphere that has long made it impossible to even see the surface.
Several dark patches, some with channels running out of them, were spotted near Titan's north pole during a July 22 Cassini flyby, NASA said in a statement yesterday.
"This is a big deal," said Steve Wall, deputy radar team leader at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We've now seen a place other than Earth where lakes are present."
This was Cassini's first look at the region. It's radar, which penetrates the smog, was used to find several dozen lakes ranging from less than a mile wide to one that is about 62 miles long.
"What we see is darker than anything we've ever seen elsewhere on Titan. It was almost as though someone laid a bull's-eye around the whole north pole of Titan, and Cassini sees these regions of lakes just like those we see on Earth," said Larry Soderblom, Cassini interdisciplinary scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Ariz.
On radar, dark areas indicate smoother terrain. These apparent lakes are so dark that the scientists assume they must be liquid. Any water on Titan would be constantly frozen, however, so the assumption is these lakes are made of hydrocarbons, which can stay liquid at much colder temperatures.
The shapes of outflow channels strongly suggest liquid carved them, the researchers say.
In keeping with the spirit of American entrepreneurial ventures, We here at Blue Crab Boulevard would like to take this opportunity to announce the Blue Crab Solar System Real Estate service, Inc. For a modest fee (cash only, please) we will give you a clear title* to a piece of beachfront property on Titan! Sorry, you'll have to make your own travel arrangements.
*Written in disappearing ink, guaranteed to turn clear right after you receive it! (Here's a gallery of Cassini discoveries, by the way).
By crosspatch, Friday, 28 July , 2006 @ 9:40 pm
Wow, I could be sitting on the solar system’s largest hydrocarbon field! I could put Saudi out of buisness. Does that include mineral rights? Now I just need to build a pipeline to Titan. “Hello, Haliburton? Do you build pipelines?”
By Gaius, Friday, 28 July , 2006 @ 9:47 pm
For you, I’ll give a very special price!