Sunday, January 24, 2010

Titan the Great

http://www.solarviews.com/eng/titan.htm

Titan is a moon of Saturn but is larger than some of the planets in our solar system. It has an environment said to be similar to Earth when it began forming life which is why it is suspected that Titan is capable of forming life. The air holds amino acids which were essential in forming life on Earth. Even their air is made of mostly Nitrogen like the earth. Although Titan has an atmospheric pressure of 1.6 bars it hold seas of liquid ethane. It may seem unpractical to have life form from ethane when water is so important and ethane is actually fatal to us but this may essential for that certain type of life to form. Their climate is very cold also which means that the water their is frozen.
There was a mission sent in 1980 to take pictures of Titan but the craft couldn't seep through the thick, cloudy atmosphere. There have been other crafts to go but still couldn't penetrate through the atmosphere. They are still trying to figure out way to go about exploring this moon of Saturn.

Spirit Gets Stuck, and Discovers!

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/02dec_troy.htm?list46156
Author: Dauna Coulter | Editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA

This article was about the Mars rover Spirit roaming in a area named after a the Grecian city of Troy. Spirit got stuck and by trying to get out found sulfates which indicate that steam was once present o Mars. They even found evidence that suggests that it snowed on Mars.

I chose this article mainly because its very interesting to see all the little things that we find that are on day going to turn into a huge epiphany for astronomers and even society everywhere. Every time something is found we are one step closer to reaching something big. Also we continue to find things that suggest that we aren't alone, or was once not alone, which is very exciting. Its almost like seeing evolution happen with your own eyes.

My Question: In the article it mentions that sulfates suggests that steam once existed, which suggests that life could have formed. What type of life could have formed, as far as structure?