NASA: Life may exist on Titan


Moderators: Omphalos, Freakzilla, ᴶᵛᵀᴬ

Post Reply
User avatar
Redstar
Posts: 1202
Joined: 25 Feb 2009 04:13

NASA: Life may exist on Titan

Post by Redstar »

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/spac ... -moon.html
Researchers at the space agency believe they have discovered vital clues that appeared to indicate that primitive aliens could be living on the moon.

Data from Nasa's Cassini probe has analysed the complex chemistry on the surface of Titan, which experts say is the only moon around the planet to have a dense atmosphere.

They suggest that life forms may have been breathing in the planet’s atmosphere and also feeding on its surface’s fuel.

Astronomers claim the moon is generally too cold to support even liquid water on its surface.

The research has been detailed in two separate studies.

The first paper, in the journal Icarus, shows that hydrogen gas flowing throughout the planet’s atmosphere disappeared at the surface. This suggested that alien forms could in fact breathe.

The second paper, in the Journal of Geophysical Research, concluded that there was lack of the chemical on the surface.

Scientists were then led to believe it had been possibly consumed by life.

Researchers had expected sunlight interacting with chemicals in the atmosphere to produce acetylene gas. But the Cassini probe did not detect any such gas.

Chris McKay, an astrobiologist at Nasa Ames Research Centre, at Moffett Field, California who led the research, said: “We suggested hydrogen consumption because it's the obvious gas for life to consume on Titan, similar to the way we consume oxygen on Earth.

"If these signs do turn out to be a sign of life, it would be doubly exciting because it would represent a second form of life independent from water-based life on Earth.”

Professor John Zarnecki, of the Open University, added: “We believe the chemistry is there for life to form. It just needs heat and warmth to kick-start the process.

“In four billion years’ time, when the Sun swells into a red giant, it could be paradise on Titan.”

They warned, however, that there could be other explanations for the findings.

But taken together, they two indicate two important conditions necessary for methane-based life to exist.
Alternate article: http://www.physorg.com/news194801328.html
User avatar
A Thing of Eternity
Posts: 6090
Joined: 08 Apr 2008 15:35
Location: Calgary Alberta

Re: NASA: Life may exist on Titan

Post by A Thing of Eternity »

Who wrote that? Their grammar and spelling are terrible.

Neat though, Titan has long been the most likely candidate for live elsewhere in our solar system. If we found even microbes here, then that would radically change the accepted ideas of just how common life is in the universe.
Image
User avatar
Redstar
Posts: 1202
Joined: 25 Feb 2009 04:13

Re: NASA: Life may exist on Titan

Post by Redstar »

Yeah, it is pretty badly put together, and they do seem too willing to assume it's true, but it's the first one I read so the one I chose to post. The second article is a little more skeptical and long.
User avatar
SandRider
Watermaster
Posts: 6163
Joined: 05 Oct 2008 16:14
Location: In the back of your mind. Always.
Contact:

Re: NASA: Life may exist on Titan

Post by SandRider »

yeah, it's bullshit & a stretch and wait .... budget negotiations time at NASA, again ?

remember when they started all that shit about the ozone hole & global warming, and give us
money to "research" it ?

and even if there is life on Titan, so what ? Nobody here's going to live long enough to find out,
or your kids ... most likely never .... there certainly could be life on Europa, under the ice ...
but so the fuck what ?

anyway ... y'all know how disillusioned and pissed-off I am with the "space program" ....
Thing OE wrote: If we found even microbes here, then that would radically change the accepted ideas of just how common life is in the universe.

I kinda feel like the "accepted ideas" like I do about shitheels who can't comprehend Frank -
if you don't get it, well ... fuck off ... at this point, if you don't understand the basics of
physics in the universe and the absolute certainty that life is abundant out there,
you're an idiot and not a part of the real conversation ....

of course, one-cell any-damn-thing would bump the NASA budget ....

I've said it before, and I'll say it again : Chuck Yeager was right ....
we should've militarized space and fought the Russians on the moon ... it'd've been a cluster-fuck, sure,
but I'd be sittin' on Olympus Mons right now tryin' to grow cotton and buildin' 1500 feet tall wind turbines
and blastin' Martian Scorpion Snakes with the death-ray in my bifocals ....
................ I exist only to amuse myself ................
ImageImage

I personally feel that this message board, Jacurutu, is full of hateful folks who don't know
how to fully interact with people.
~ "Spice Grandson" (Bryon Merrit) 08 June 2008
User avatar
Omphalos
Inglorious Bastard
Posts: 6677
Joined: 05 Feb 2008 11:07
Location: The Mighty Central Valley of California
Contact:

Re: NASA: Life may exist on Titan

Post by Omphalos »

Dude, we totally need to go there to see if they are building up arms for an invasion of Earth. We gotta find out before they come here and mate with our senoritas and breed us out.
Image

The New & Improved Book Review Blog

Goodnight Golden Path!
User avatar
A Thing of Eternity
Posts: 6090
Joined: 08 Apr 2008 15:35
Location: Calgary Alberta

Re: NASA: Life may exist on Titan

Post by A Thing of Eternity »

SandRider wrote:
Thing OE wrote: If we found even microbes here, then that would radically change the accepted ideas of just how common life is in the universe.

I kinda feel like the "accepted ideas" like I do about shitheels who can't comprehend Frank -
if you don't get it, well ... fuck off ... at this point, if you don't understand the basics of
physics in the universe and the absolute certainty that life is abundant out there,
you're an idiot and not a part of the real conversation ....
That's my point though, the "accepted idea" right now already IS that life is very common out there, but with billions and billions of stars to choose from locally, "very common" might be one in a million. If life arose twice in just our one solar system, in vastly different circumstances, that would potentially mean that there's life in most solar systems (or we're a double fluke in our system).

It's the difference between there being life out there, but potentially too far for us to ever contact or for them to contact us (assuming we reach civilization at the same time, big if), and there being all kinds of potential for finding life out there in the near future, and possibly interacting with it (even if just to study microbes).
Image
User avatar
Hunchback Jack
Posts: 1983
Joined: 30 May 2008 15:02
Location: California, USA

Re: NASA: Life may exist on Titan

Post by Hunchback Jack »

Also, being able to study life that wasn't based on DNA would be pretty cool.

HBJ
"The sky calls to us. If we do not destroy ourselves, we will one day venture to the stars."
- Carl Sagan

I'm still very proud of The Quarry but … let's face it; in the end the real best way to sign off would have been with a great big rollicking Culture novel.
- Iain Banks
User avatar
A Thing of Eternity
Posts: 6090
Joined: 08 Apr 2008 15:35
Location: Calgary Alberta

Re: NASA: Life may exist on Titan

Post by A Thing of Eternity »

Yup. Yup it would.
Image
Post Reply