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Saturn’s Moon Might Have a Huge Internal Ocean

posted by admin in March 22nd, 2008  Article Under: News, Technology, space   Tags: , , , , , ,   

Washington - Titan, the fascinating moon of Saturn known for its dense atmosphere and layer of clouds may have a big ocean of water and ammonia lying deep below its surface, scientists reported on Thursday.

Astronomers did not directly see the ocean but they told that observations done by the Cassini spacecraft suggests the existence of an ocean, maybe 60 miles beneath titan’s surface.

Titan is the 2nd largest moon in the solar system only behind Ganymede, the moon of Jupiter and it is also the largest moon of Saturn. Titan has a diameter of around three thousand two hundred miles, which is greater than that of the dwarf planet Pluto and the planet Mercury.

Titanocean

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Cassini Detected the Rings of Rhea

posted by admin in March 7th, 2008  Article Under: News, space   Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,   

PASADENA, Calif. - New observations made by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft suggest that Rhea, the second-largest moon of Saturn, may have rings. If the rings were confirmed, it would be the first moon to have a ring system around it.

The Cassini spacecraft had detected a large debris disk which appeared to be like rings around the 950-mile-wide moon Rhea. Scientists firmly believe that the discs are composed of particles ranging from the size of pebbles to big rocks.

In contrast to the rings around Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, the alleged arcs around Rhea remain invisible and cannot be seen directly. Scientists confirmed the existence of arcs based on the measurements made by Cassini, which detected a fall in electrons on both sides of the moon, indicating that the existence of rings was absorbing the electrons.

Cassini Detected the Rings of Rhea

This is an artist concept of the ring of debris that may orbit Saturn’s second-largest moon, Rhea. The suggested disk of solid material is exaggerated in density here for clarity.

Credit: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL

It’s uncertain that when the rings would have originated, one thing is certain that they originated as a result of a collision of an asteroid or comet which took place long ago that disgorged the debris around Rhea.

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New Solar System Found

posted by admin in February 21st, 2008  Article Under: News   Tags: , , , , , , , , ,   

New York - Astronomers along with amateur stargazers have found a solar system, which closely resembles that of our own, using an uncommon technique and say that it can be a novel and more productive technique to search the universe for planets and life.

They said that the new technique known as microlensing is very promising and can be used for many more stars with earth like Stars revolving around them.

Scott Gaudi, who led the study, said “We discovered a new solar system that appears similar to the solar system in which we live

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