Latest Ethane Stories

Arizona -- Cassini-Huygens supplied new evidence about why Titan has an atmosphere, making it unique among all solar system moons, a University of Arizona planetary scientist says. Scientists can infer from Cassini-Huygens results that Titan has ammonia, said Jonathan I. Lunine, an interdisciplinary scientist for the European Space Agency\'s Huygens probe that landed on Titan last month. "I think what\'s clear from the data is that Titan has accreted or acquired significant amounts of...

Titan is a world where bits of muck continually fall out of the smoggy sky, blanketing the frozen surface like dark gooey snow. Squalls of methane rain periodically wash the surface clean, sweeping the organic gunk into rivers. Scientific interest is sparked by the frozen moon so rich in methane that it seems ready to catch fire.Astrobiology Magazine -- The region where the Huygens probe landed looks oddly familiar. The same processes of precipitation, erosion, and abrasion that shape the...

When Titan was viewed beneath its hazy atmosphere, a new world appeared with a mixture of the strange and familiar. Some compared the landscape of pebbles to what has appeared on Mars. Others saw the clouds or speckled dark regions as indicative of methane rain or even surf. Is this a case of fact being stranger than imagination?Astrobiology Magazine -- Interpreting aerial photographs is a matter of training and a good sense of scale. Images that look similar may mask the underlying landscape...

Interview with Toby Owens, Part IIAstrobiology Magazine -- University of Hawaii astronomer Toby Owens spoke with Astrobiology Magazine shortly after the successful Huygens mission had completed. In this part of the interview, Owens talks about the significance of methane in Titan's atmosphere. -----Astrobiology Magazine (AM): You said that one thing that was particularly intriguing about Titan was its thick nitrogen-methane atmosphere. Do you think that the data that Huygens has collected...

ESA -- One week after the successful completion of Huygens' mission to the atmosphere and surface of Titan, the largest and most mysterious moon of Saturn, the European Space Agency is bringing together some of the probe's scientists to present and discuss the first results obtained from the data collected by the instruments. After a 4,000 million kilometre journey through the Solar System that lasted almost seven years, the Huygens probe plunged into the hazy atmosphere of Titan at 11:13...

The European Space Agency has released the first of several hundred images captured by the Huygens probe during its descent through the atmosphere of Saturn's giant moon Titan. They reveal a world of diverse landforms, shaped at least in part by fluid erosion. Some the images are reminiscent of early photographs of Mars. Astrobiology Magazine -- The European Space Agency has released the first of several hundred images captured by the Huygens probe during its descent through the atmosphere...

Astrobiology Magazine -- For nearly a decade, scientists around the world have been waiting patiently for the European Space Agency's Huygens probe to arrive at its destination: Saturn's giant moon Titan. Now, as the Huygens science team gathers at ESA's control center in Darmstadt, Germany, that wait is almost over. Huygens has finally descended down through Titan's thick shroud of fog, taking a host of measurements along the way, and has successfully landed on Titan.Scientists Confirm...

On Christmas Eve, the Cassini spacecraft will release its wok-shaped Huygens probe on the start of an intimate date with Saturn's largest moon, Titan. On Jan. 14, at 4 a.m. EST, Huygens will enter Titan's methane-rich atmosphere at a speed of 12,000 mph, rapidly decelerate, then deploy its parachute at an altitude above 90 miles. Because methane gas gets depleted quickly, its high concentration on Titan implies a regenerative source. But which one?Astrobiology Magazine -- The Cassini/Huygens...

The limits to life have consistently listed carbon-based organisms as central. While methane-consuming microbes are still carbon-based, they do offer novel ways to extract energy even without light or oxygen. Their role in our solar system is a subject of fruitful speculation.Astrobiology Magazine -- A team of University of Minnesota scientists has discovered how iron- and chromium-rich rocks can generate natural gas (methane) and related hydrocarbons when reacted with superheated fluids...

Astrobiology Magazine -- When Cassini flew by Saturn's moon Titan on October 26, scientists got a small taste of the discoveries to come. Athena Coustenis of the Paris-Meudon Observatory discusses a potential landscape of mountains and lakes on this strange, smog-filled world. ----Astrobiology Magazine (AM): People thought for many years that Titan was completely covered by a hydrocarbon ocean. When did that change?Athena Coustenis (AC): When I started out in this field in 1987, Jonathan...