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Ocean on Saturn Moon Could be as Salty as the Dead Sea

By Guest PostJuly 7, 2014Sciencecassini data, cassini huygens mission, dead sea, hot spots, linda spilker, manager, ocean, saturn moon

Scientists analyzing data from NASA’s Cassini mission have firm evidence the ocean inside Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, might be as salty as Earth’s Dead Sea.

The new results come from a study of gravity and topography data collected during Cassini’s repeated flybys of Titan during the past 10 years. Using the Cassini data, researchers presented a model structure for Titan, resulting in an improved understanding of the structure of the moon’s outer ice shell. The findings are published in this week’s edition of the journal Icarus. (more…)

NASA Space Assets Detect Ocean inside Saturn Moon

By Guest PostApril 8, 2014Sciencecassini, chris reid, deep space network, extraterrestrial microbes, iain couzin, linda spilker, matthew lutz, NASA, ocean, radio signal, rome, sapienza university, saturn moon, solar system, Space

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft and Deep Space Network have uncovered evidence Saturn’s moon Enceladus harbors a large underground ocean of liquid water, furthering scientific interest in the moon as a potential home to extraterrestrial microbes.

Researchers theorized the presence of an interior reservoir of water in 2005 when Cassini discovered water vapor and ice spewing from vents near the moon’s south pole. The new data provide the first geophysical measurements of the internal structure of Enceladus, consistent with the existence of a hidden ocean inside the moon. Findings from the gravity measurements are in the Friday, April 4 edition of the journal Science. (more…)

Saturn Moon May Have Rigid Ice Shell

By Guest PostAugust 30, 2013Sciencecassini data, cassini huygens mission, cassini spacecraft, cassini team, douglas hemingway, european space agency, francis nimmo, gravity, ice roots, ice shell, italian space agency, NASA, orange brown atmosphere, santa cruz, saturn moon, saturnian moon titan, topography data, university of california

An analysis of gravity and topography data from the Saturnian moon Titan obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft suggests there could be something unexpected about the moon’s outer ice shell. The findings, published on Aug. 28 in the journal Nature, suggest that Titan’s ice shell could be rigid, and that relatively small topographic features on the surface could be associated with large ice “roots” extending into the underlying ocean.

The study was led by planetary scientists Douglas Hemingway and Francis Nimmo at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who used data from Cassini. The researchers were surprised to find a counterintuitive relationship between gravity and topography. (more…)

Cassini Spots Mini Nile River on Saturn Moon

By Guest PostDecember 12, 2012Sciencebedrock, fractures, mini nile river, moon titan, plate tectonics, saturn moon, titan

PASADENA, Calif. – Scientists with NASA’s Cassini mission have spotted what appears to be a miniature, extraterrestrial likeness of Earth’s Nile River: a river valley on Saturn’s moon Titan that stretches more than 200 miles (400 kilometers) from its “headwaters” to a large sea. It is the first time images have revealed a river system this vast and in such high resolution anywhere other than Earth. (more…)

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Ocean on Saturn Moon Could be as Salty as the Dead Sea

NASA Space Assets Detect Ocean inside Saturn Moon

Saturn Moon May Have Rigid Ice Shell

Cassini Spots Mini Nile River on Saturn Moon