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.

The Cassini spacecraft, which is on an U.S.-European mission to explore the planet Saturn and its moons, gathered measurements by means of radar that penetrated the thick clouds of Titan during nineteen passes above titan between Oct 2005 and May 2007.

Information from previous observations permitted researchers to determine the positions of fifty landmarks, which includes mountains, canyons and lakes on the surface of Titan. The scientists then examined the data from the later radar and found out that important surface features had moved up to nineteen miles.

Titan’s crust spin is associated to winds that blow through its atmosphere, the researchers said. But it would be difficult to explain the kind of wide displacement of titan’s surface features except for its crust to be separated from its core by an ocean lying below, making the crust to float.

“As Titan’s crust appears to be so mobile, we suppose there is an ocean beneath,” said Ralph Lorenz of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, in a telephone interview.

Lorenz, who directed the research published in the journal Science, said that the internal ocean was perhaps mostly water with a small percent of ammonia.”Titan is without doubt one of the most Earth-like landscapes in the solar system and possibly possesses the most Earth-like climate,” he added.

Its atmosphere is by and large formed of nitrogen; in addition to other hydrocarbon elements that give the Saturn’s moon its color i.e. orange.The atmosphere of Titan contains compounds that might have existed in the Earth’s prehistoric atmosphere. The Saturn’s moon may also possess some chemicals such as ethane and methane in greater quantities.

Researchers have also found proof that suggests such internal oceans on other moons in the solar system, which includes Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa of Jupiter and Enceladus of Saturn.

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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.

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.

“There is also possibility that rings might have formed even at the time of Rhea’s formation,” said Geraint Jones, a space physicist from University College of London.

Till now, we were known that only planets have rings, added Jones, who began the research while at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany.

The Cassini mission, which was a joint effort by NASA and the space agencies of Italy and Europe, was launched into space in 1997. The spacecraft reached Saturn in 2004. The mission is controlled by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

“It is the first time to detect a moon having rings around it”, said the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Rhea, which is having a diameter of about 1500 kilometers, is the second-largest moon of Saturn. Cassini detected alleged arcs of debris which stretches several thousand miles from end to end said NASA.

“After excluding many other possibilities, we said these discs have similarities of rings,” said Jones. “No one might have expected rings around a moon.”

Cassini is the first spacecraft to explore the Saturn system of rings and moons from orbit.

‘Until now we believed that Saturn was the only planet having rings,’ said a scientist of Cassini mission. “Now we also have a moon of Saturn which seems to be a miniature version of it even more elaborately decorated parent.”

Relevant Links:

• Saturn’s Moon Rhea Also May Have Rings
• http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/rhea20080306.html

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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”

Using the technique of gravitational microlensing, a network of astronomers around the world from about 11 countries spotted the system that comprises two planets that are revolving around a star known as OGLE-2006-BLG-109L, which is about 1/2 the size of our sun and about 5,000 light years away.

“Microlensing technique works by making use of the gravity of the star as well as the Planet to bend and focus light rays from a Star in the background“, – said Scott Gaudi of Ohio State University. “If you are looking at a Star, and another goes by in the foreground will focus and bend light rays. This causes the magnification of the Star in the background.” – He added.

“Any planet revolving around the Star causes “a little bump” in the magnification effect,” Gaudi said.

The two planets in the new solar system are smaller than Saturn and Jupiter. The larger planet is slightly smaller than the Jupiter, with close to 70 percent of Jupiter’s mass. The smaller planet is about 30 percent of the mass of Jupiter, which makes it similar in size with Saturn.

Moreover, the two Planets are much nearer to their parent Star. The bigger planet is 2.3 astronomical units (AU) from its parent Star where as the smaller one is about 4.6 AUs from its Sun. In contrast to this in our solar system the Jupiter lies about 5.2 AUs from the sun while the Saturn is at a 9.5 Astronomical Units away from our sun.

The Sun i.e. the parent Star of the new solar system is dimmer than that of ours. However the temperatures in the two planets are similar to that of Jupiter and Saturn. This is because the planets are closer to their star than Jupiter and Saturn to our Sun.

The two planets are only the 5th and 6th identified using gravitational microlensing. “This is the first time a planet with Jupiter’s mass was identified where we had notable sensitivity to more planets. We may be able to find a full census of planetary systems in all over our galaxy,” – said Scott Gaudi.

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