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Titan may have underground oceans of water


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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080320/ap_on_sc/saturn_titan

PASADENA, Calif. - Scientists say they have found the best evidence yet that an ocean of liquid water may be hidden below the surface of Saturn's giant moon Titan.

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If the results are confirmed, it would be a starting point for further study into whether the ocean could be capable of supporting life.

The latest evidence of an underground ocean is indirect and is based on analyzing radar images and Titan's spin rates from observations by the international Cassini spacecraft from 2004 to 2007.

Scientists found several dunes, channels, lakes and other geological features on Titan's surface drifted from a fixed point, likely as a result of an increase of the moon's rotation.

Using modeling techniques, scientists determined that winds in Titan's atmosphere exert a torque on the lunar surface and concluded there must be a liquid ocean below. Such a large shift would not be seen if the interior was a solid core, they said.

"Only because the crust is thin and decoupled from the deep interior by this ocean is the wind able to move the crust around as much as we see," lead author Ralph Lorenz of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

The findings were described in Thursday's issue of the journal Science.

If an internal ocean exists on Titan, it would likely be buried below 62 miles of ice and made of water and traces of ammonia, Lorenz said.

In an accompanying editorial, Christophe Sotin of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and Gabriel Tobie of the University of Nantes in France wrote that further observations are needed to test for the existence of an underground ocean.

"If the interpretation that Titan has an internal ocean is supported by other measurements, then Titan is a place where organics are produced and where liquid water is present," they wrote.

The presence of an underground ocean could help explain how Titan replenishes methane in its smoggy atmosphere.

Titan is one of the few objects in the outer solar system with a significant atmosphere, and scientists have long puzzled over the source of its methane. They have theorized that methane is locked in the ice covering and released through processes involving an ocean below.

The Cassini probe, a project of NASA and international partners, previously found evidence of hydrocarbon seas on Titan's surface.

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I wanna move there some day.

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Sounds awesome, maybe all the methane is from swimming subterranean cows. I hope they get some pics/bodies of aliens soon. Then i can prove everyone wrong! everyone will pay for making fun of my tin foil helmet!

I dont get your relationship:

You have the looks.

You have the brains.

What does Drago bring? the drugs???

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I dont get your relationship:

You have the looks.

You have the brains.

What does Drago bring? the drugs???

Good looks

companionship

sometimes cooking

fun

brains

tallness

soccer skills

he likes my cat

he sends me get well package for surgery

etc.

also the drugs

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I dont get your relationship:

You have the looks.

You have the brains.

What does Drago bring? the drugs???

if you only knew. I have asked her this a few times, all she can do is mumble out responses, sometimes i remove the sock from her mouth to let her scream a little bit, but mostly just leave her tied to the pillar in the basement.

She might tell you different, but she really doesn't mind using a bucket for pooping and peeing.

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if you only knew. I have asked her this a few times, all she can do is mumble out responses, sometimes i remove the sock from her mouth to let her scream a little bit, but mostly just leave her tied to the pillar in the basement.

She might tell you different, but she really doesn't mind using a bucket for pooping and peeing.

he even lets me write my own posts sometimes, isnt he a pip!

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Im not picking on you.... You are the greatest,,,,

:)

If you and I meet up at a Jets game, we are surely singing the R.Kelly worlds greatest song while drunk. I just have to learn the words. And you will have to learn to synchronize swim.

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im not sure they made floaties that can get around my meaty arms...

but I look good in a swimming cap though....:)

I guess it will just be karaoke then. sigh, i was really looking forward to bringing that pool, and matching suits.

According to lions, and other predators, meaty is good. Women are like predators sometimes, meaty arms are good arms. This connection works.

:P

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I am a dash and you are a dot

When will you see that I am all that you've got

I'm a binary code that you cracked long ago

But to you I'm just a novel that you wish you'd never wrote

I'm greater than x and lesser than y, so why is it

That I still can't catch your eye?

You're a cryptic crossword, a song I've never heard

While I sit here drawing circles I'm afraid of being hurt

It appears to me the graph has come and stolen all the laughs

It appears to me the pen has over analysed again

And if I am a number I'm infinity plus one

And if you are five words you are afraid to be the one

And if you are a number you're infinity plus one

And if I am four words then I am needing of your love

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I am a dash and you are a dot

When will you see that I am all that you've got

I'm a binary code that you cracked long ago

But to you I'm just a novel that you wish you'd never wrote

I'm greater than x and lesser than y, so why is it

That I still can't catch your eye?

You're a cryptic crossword, a song I've never heard

While I sit here drawing circles I'm afraid of being hurt

It appears to me the graph has come and stolen all the laughs

It appears to me the pen has over analysed again

And if I am a number I'm infinity plus one

And if you are five words you are afraid to be the one

And if you are a number you're infinity plus one

And if I am four words then I am needing of your love

i heard you are fine as hell. Throw me some pics.

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