CasperParks
03-19-2014, 07:03 AM
The Huffington Post: Ocean Waves On Saturn's Moon Titan May Have Been Spied By NASA's Cassini Spacecraft (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/18/ocean-waves-saturn-moon-titan-nasa-cassini-spacecraft_n_4986419.html)
After years of searching, planetary scientists think they may finally have spotted waves rippling on the seas of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. If confirmed, this would be the first discovery of ocean waves beyond Earth.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft spied several unusual glints of sunlight off the surface of Punga Mare, one of Titan’s hydrocarbon seas, in 2012 and 2013. Those reflections may come from tiny ripples, no more than 2 centimeters high, that are disturbing the otherwise flat ocean, says Jason Barnes, a planetary scientist at the University of Idaho in Moscow.
Barnes presented the findings today at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, where a second talk hinted at the presence of waves in another of Titan’s seas.
Researchers expect more waves to appear in the next few years, because winds are anticipated to pick up as Titan’s northern hemisphere — where most of its seas are located — emerges from winter and approaches spring.
“Titan may be beginning to stir,” says Ralph Lorenz, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “Oceanography is no longer just an Earth science.”
Click here to read entire article at The Huffington Post: Ocean Waves On Saturn's Moon Titan May Have Been Spied By NASA's Cassini Spacecraft (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/18/ocean-waves-saturn-moon-titan-nasa-cassini-spacecraft_n_4986419.html)
After years of searching, planetary scientists think they may finally have spotted waves rippling on the seas of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. If confirmed, this would be the first discovery of ocean waves beyond Earth.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft spied several unusual glints of sunlight off the surface of Punga Mare, one of Titan’s hydrocarbon seas, in 2012 and 2013. Those reflections may come from tiny ripples, no more than 2 centimeters high, that are disturbing the otherwise flat ocean, says Jason Barnes, a planetary scientist at the University of Idaho in Moscow.
Barnes presented the findings today at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, where a second talk hinted at the presence of waves in another of Titan’s seas.
Researchers expect more waves to appear in the next few years, because winds are anticipated to pick up as Titan’s northern hemisphere — where most of its seas are located — emerges from winter and approaches spring.
“Titan may be beginning to stir,” says Ralph Lorenz, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “Oceanography is no longer just an Earth science.”
Click here to read entire article at The Huffington Post: Ocean Waves On Saturn's Moon Titan May Have Been Spied By NASA's Cassini Spacecraft (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/18/ocean-waves-saturn-moon-titan-nasa-cassini-spacecraft_n_4986419.html)