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mysticstronomy · 3 months

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COULD LIFE EXIST ON TITAN??

Blog#416

Saturday, July 6th, 2024.

Welcome back,

Titan's ocean has a volume 12 times that of all Earth's oceans, but it may be barren of life as we know it.

Titan's underground ocean, and similar oceans inside other icy moons in the outer solar system, may lack the organic chemistry necessary for life, according to new astrobiological research.

Titan is Saturn's largest moon, and the second largest moon in the entire solar system. It's famous for being shrouded in a smog of petrochemicals and for possessing a veritable soup of organic molecules — molecules that contain carbon — on its surface. Yet, despite all this fascinating chemistry, Titan is cold. Very cold. It has surface temperatures no warmer than –179 degrees Celsius (–290 degrees Fahrenheit). And in these frigid conditions, chemical reactions for life progress very slowly.

However, deep underground where it's warmer — the exact depth is not certain, but estimates suggest it's on the order of 100 kilometers (62 miles) — a liquid ocean with a volume 12 times that of Earth's oceans combined is thought to exist. Similar oceans inhabit the interiors of Titan's fellow Saturnian moon Enceladus, and Jupiter's moons Europa and Ganymede.

And where there is liquid water, there could be life. Right? Not so fast, says Catherine Neish of Western University in Ontario, Canada.

A planetary scientist, Neish led an international team that challenged the assumption Titan's ocean, and indeed the oceans of other icy moons, could be habitable.

The researchers worked on the basis that, for Titan's ocean to be habitable, a large supply of organic molecules from the surface must be able to physically reach the ocean in order to facilitate prebiotic chemistry that can produce and feed life.

The route for this organic material to reach the ocean is via comet impacts. Such impacts can melt surface ice, creating a pool of liquid water filled with organic molecules. Because liquid water is denser than ice, it sinks. But, Neish's modeling found that the rate of impacts is not high enough for sufficient organic material to reach Titan's ocean.

For example, Neish's team estimates only about 7,500 kilograms (16,534 pounds) of the simplest amino acid, glycine, reaches Titan's ocean every year. It may sound like a lot, but that's equivalent to the mass of one male African elephant spread across an ocean with a dozen times the volume of Earth's oceans. If you’ll excuse the pun, it's barely a drop in the ocean.

"We assumed that the majority of melt deposits — 65% — would sink all the way to the ocean," Neish told Space.com. "Recent modeling work suggests that this is very likely an overestimate, but even in this most optimistic scenario, there is not enough organics moving into Titan's ocean to support life there."

There may be other possibilities. On Europa, where there are very few organic molecules on the surface, it is postulated that hydrothermal vents may exist on the seafloor where the ocean comes into contact with the moon's rocky core. These vents would spew all kinds of molecules and trigger complex chemical reactions that could support life.

Further evidence for carbon in Europa's ocean has been discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope. The JWST identified carbon dioxide that has welled up from the ocean onto Europa's surface.

So, could the same happen on Titan, with organic material coming from the moon's interior, rather than its surface?

Neish doesn't rule it out, saying that colleagues such as Kelly Miller at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, are investigating the possibility — but Neish does highlight one particular caveat.

"One concern that has come up is whether the organics sourced from the interior would be useful for life," she said. "We think they may be primarily aromatic compounds, and it is difficult to form biomolecules — such as amino acids — from such compounds."

While we are still some ways away from being able to probe the oceans of these icy moons directly to say for certain whether they contain life or not, Neish's research does raise some promising opportunities for NASA's Dragonfly mission to Titan, on which Neish is a co-investigator.

Originally published on https://www.space.com

COMING UP!!

(Wednesday, July 10th, 2024)

"WILL HUMANS EVER GO TO MARS??"

#astronomy #outer space #alternate universe #astrophysics #universe #spacecraft #white universe #space #parallel universe #astrophotography

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ltwilliammowett · 10 months

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Behind door no. 3 of today's first Advent Sunday hides a small but fine fighter - the US Brig Niagara

US Brig Niagara

More about her here:

The US Snow-Brig Niagara is a two-masted, square-rigged sailing vessel and she was the relief flagship of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. And she was constructed from 1812 to 1813 in to protect the vulnerable American coastline on Lake Erie from the British and played a pivotal role in the battle for the lake. At that time she had a crew of 155 men and boys who manned her sails, 18 carronades and two long guns.

On September 10th, 1813, nine small ships — six of them, including Niagara, constructed at Erie – defeated a British squadron of six vessels in the Battle of Lake Erie. A pivotal event in the War of 1812, it led to regaining Detroit, lost at the war’s outset, and lifted the nation’s morale.

After the battle, Niagara assisted in the transporting of Harrison's army to the mouth of the Detroit River in preparation for an invasion of southwest Ontario. On 25 April 1814, command of Niagara was transferred to Arthur Sinclair. After repairs, the fleet—consisting of Niagara, Lawrence, Caledonia, Scorpion and Tigress—departed Erie for Detroit. In Detroit, soldiers under the command of Colonel George Croghan embarked with the fleet, bound for Mackinac Island. The fleet arrived on 26 July and landed on 4 August. The battle was ultimately lost, with Croghan being forced to retreat back to his boats. On 13 August, the fleet arrived at the mouth of the Nottawasaga River where they attacked a blockhouse owned by the North West Company.The blockhouse was destroyed by the British, along with the schooner HMS Nancy, to prevent their supplies from being captured.

After the Treaty of Ghent was signed, ending the war, the majority of the surviving ships that participated in the Battle of Lake Erie were disposed of in 1815, Niagara was sunk for preservation on Presque Isle in 1820.

Raised in 1913, she was rebuilt for the centennial of the Battle of Lake Erie. After deteriorating, the restoration of Niagara was started again in the 1930s, but was hampered by the lack of funds caused by the Great Depression and remained uncompleted until 1963. A more extensive restoration was carried out in 1988 in which much of the original ship was largely destroyed. The incorporation of new materials and modern equipment makes it ambiguous as to whether it is or is not a replica.

#naval history #tall ship #us brig niagara #war of 1812 #age of sail replica #advent calendar #day 3

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mybeingthere · 1 year

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More of a wonderful Inuit artist PITALOOSIE SAILA (1942-2021).

I remember how Inuit used to live, thinking of them back then, my relatives. I also recall how the clothing was made; that is what I base my drawings on when I draw people.

-Pitaloosie Saila

(From “Kinngait: Riding Light Into the World; Producer: Site Media; Director: Annette Mangaard)

Pitaloosie was born in 1942 on the southwest coast of Baffin Island near what is now the community of Cape Dorset. She spent her childhood years in various hospitals in Quebec and Ontario for treatment of tuberculosis. She learned

English during this time, and recalls the difficulty she experienced in relearning her native language upon her return to Baffin Island in 1957. She is now one of the few of her generation who speak both English and Inuktitut fluently.

Pitaloosie began drawing in the early 1960’s, and quickly established herself as a versatile and intelligent graphic artist.

Over the years, she has become a familiar presence in the Kinngait Studios, and her work has been included in annual

print collections since 1968.

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brithombar · 1 month

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i understand that people are still attempting to expose keffals and stop her deranged fanbase but i feel that people outside canada do not understand the role that her location plays in her behaviour, southwest ontario is an area with high nazi activity because most of them immigrated there and it remians to this day a predominantly white location. her consistent jokes about mussolini and the mind games she plays with her audience to induce hysteria are a very likely indicator of her heritage and the community she exists in to this day

#it is certaintly true that white trans people are untrustworthy to those of colour but in this case like #she is not a white trans woman but a transgender member of the proud aryan race luvs

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jdenvs3000w24 · 6 months

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ROCKS

Hello again fellow bloggers,

The most amazing thing about nature for me is the geology of an area. My main fixation in general is pollinators, as exemplified by my group's podcast, “What the Buzz?” and I love bees and ants and stuff like that. However, anytime I'm out hiking or just exploring, I can't help but get excited about rocks. The geology and topography of an area tell a story that goes back millions of years. For instance, down where I'm from in Nova Scotia there is a place called the Bay of Fundy, I'm sure you've all heard f it considering it is home to the world's highest tides. Down near a little village named Walton there is a shale beach with a massive cliff and folds in the rocks.

This cliff face tells the story of two landmasses colliding together to form what is now Nova Scotia. Initially happening long before the Atlantic formed. And then the Bay of Fundy itself formed from the rifting of North America from Africa and Europe. This caused the split in the mountain chain that now has pieces in Morocco, Scotland, the USA, Canada, and Norway!

(pictures taken by me, Walton Cliffs)

A little closer to campus there is a location in Hamilton called the Devil's Punchbowl. I've gone there twice now for class field trips. The Devil's Punchbowl tells a story of the ancient seas and streams that used to run through this area of southwest Ontario. The grains of sand that make up the sandstone tell stories of millions of years ago. The dolomitic capstone of the Niagara Escarpment tells another story, so long as you speak the language of rocks and sediment.

(another photo by me, Devils Punchbowl)

Another area of Nova Scotia I've hiked through is on the Cape Split Peninsula. This region of the province is located on basaltic bedrock which formed during the same event that formed the Bay of Fundy. Magma pours out of the earth to form the north mountain range which makes up the sea sideward side of the Annapolis valley. The cape is covered in rocks filled with copper ore speckled through basaltic rock. Based on the patterns and the lack of crystallization you can tell that this magma cools very quickly, likely due to a rushing in of seawater after the rifting event.

(another photo by me, Cape Split Point)

Further up the bay, there are a few islands, near Parrsboro, the indigenous peoples of the area, the Mi’kmaq, called these the five islands. The five islands are part of the legends passed down by the Mi’kmaq people. The story goes that Kluskap, or Glooscap as the settlers called him, who was a giant man, was fighting a giant beaver in the bay. During the fight, Kluskap hurled 5 large boulders at the beaver that formed the islands today, the beaver was said to have been trapped by the boulders and sticks causing him to turn into gold underground. Geologically these islands are exposed parts of the north mountain chain that I talked about earlier but it's neat learning about the indigenous peoples’ folklore, especially when centered around how the landscape was formed.

Anyways, till next week bloggers!

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musicfren · 7 months

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Protests March 2nd (this Saturday). Mostly USA, some global

Albuquerque, New Mexico

11:00 a.m.

Tiguex Park