Friday, August 28, 2009
Fog Alert on Titan
Image Credit: Mike BrownMike Brown, the discoverer of Pluto-killing Eris, has discovered fog on Titan. This is an amazing discovery as it implies there are large quantities of liquid methane on Titans surface. We have long suspected this (and a lot of the dark patches on Titan are suspected to be methane lakes), but confirmation is pretty stunning.
Read Mike's blog for the details (Mike Brown has a Blog! It's going in my Blog Roll!), and links to his paper. (Hat tip to the Bad Asytomomer, whose own post on this should be read attentively too.)
Labels: peer-reviewed research, Titan
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Titan Shadow Transit, 28 March 2009
On Saturday 28 March, there will be a shadow transit of Titan. Titan itself will not cross Saturn's disk but its shadow will the best time to star observing is around 9:30 pm local time. See Mike Salway's article detailing the times you can see this and coming shadow transits.Labels: Saturn, Titan, transit
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Missed the Titan Transit
I completely missed the transit of Titian on Thursday the 12th, cloud covered the whole sky. Several Australian were lucky enough to see it. You can see their images in this IceInSpace thread. Also, Christopher Go caught some amazing images of this transit.
There are no more transits of Titan as seen from Australia this year, but there are several shadow transits, where Titan is off the disk of Saturn, but the shadow is on it. Mike Salway has an article detailing the times you can see these shadow transits.
There are no more transits of Titan as seen from Australia this year, but there are several shadow transits, where Titan is off the disk of Saturn, but the shadow is on it. Mike Salway has an article detailing the times you can see these shadow transits.
Labels: Saturn, Titan, transit
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Yes, that blob is Saturn
It started off very badly. Setting up my scope I discovered that the RA release lever didn't work. I could still slew in RA using the knob controls, but rather than a quick "relase, rough align -lock -fine align" I had to spend minutes sloly advancing in RA.Then of course the finder scope had been knocked out of alignment, so I spent handfuls of time aligning that. Then Saturn was just not turning up in the imager. Mucho adjustment later I work out that the focus is off.
By the time I get Saturn in focus, Titan is well and truly on the disk. But I can't see it, as Saturn is bouncing around like a drop of water on a hot plate. Turbulence, bad turbulence. I'm lucky even to see the rings. Still, it's obvious the ring are edge on, compare this to my 2007 image of Saturn below.
Even with the turbulence tonight's a better image. And you can clearly see how much the rings have closed up.
But still, no hope of seeing any of the moons, let alone Titan's shadow. Hope other folks did better.
Labels: Saturn, Titan, transit
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Transit of Titan 2 - February 24
Titan just begins to pass across the face of Saturn in this Stellarium image.On February 24 there will be a second rare Transit of Titan across the face of Saturn. This time you will be able to see the shadow of Titan on Saturn (if you have a good enough telescope).
The shadow will be visible on Saturn about forty minutes before the transit starts. As well the Moons Mimas, Dione and Encladeus will transit not long after Titan, but you will need a 8” or better telescope to see the moons effectively. Even 4” reflectors and 50mm refractors will be able to see Titan enter Saturn's disk, although you will not be able to see Titan once it is on the disk, you may see its shadow. Mimas will start to transit about 40 minutes after Titan, and the other two about two and a half hours later (Note that the image on Mike Salaways page has Mimas in the wrong location. everything else is correct, I suspect StarryNight weirdness. Stellarium for example, has everything in the right place but one hour earlier!)
Transit Start:
Eastern states: 10:26 pm AEDST
Central States: 10:00 pm ACDST
Western Australia: 8:29 pm AWDST
Transit finish:
Eastern States: 2:25 am 25th AEDST
Central States: 1:59 am 25th ACDST
Western Australia: 11:29 am 25th AWDST
If you have Stellarium then cut out the following lines, and save it as Titan_Transit.sts
============ >8 cut here >8=================
clear
date utc 2009:02:24T09:30:00
select planet Saturn pointer off
wait duration 2
zoom auto in
wait duration 2
zoom auto in
flag planet_names on
timerate rate 250
script action end
============ >8 cut here >8=================
Save the file in the Stellarium scripts folder, then run the script for an animation of the transit (without shadows). To rum the sript, in stellarium press M (menu) use the down arrow to get to 7. scripts, right arrow to get to select scripts, down arrow to pick up Titan_transit.sts, press enter them M, and sit back and watch.
And of course there is the real thing. Mike Salaway's animation and Christiopher Go's animation of the transits they observed. Go have a look.
Labels: Observational Astronomy, Saturn, Titan, transit
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Fantastic Images of the Titan Transit
It was too cloudy for me to see the Titan Transit, even if I had been up to it anyway. But over in the Philippines Christopher Go was able to see Titans egress, Go to his Titan Transit website to see some super awesome photos and animations.
Some Australians got to see it too, despite the wildfires and floods. See this IceinSpace Thread for images and animations.
Some Australians got to see it too, despite the wildfires and floods. See this IceinSpace Thread for images and animations.
Labels: Saturn, Titan, transit
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Transit of Titan
Titan begins to transit Saturn's disk at around 11:45 ACDST on Sunday February 8 (click to enlarge, the minor Moons are exaggerated in this image).While transits of the Galilean satellites across Jupiter happen relatively often (about a few times a month or so that are observable from any one location), transits of the Moons of Saturn, especially Titan, are much rarer.
Roughly every 14-15 years however, when Saturn's Rings are edge on, there is a chance to see Titan transit Saturn. Mike Salway discusses this over on Ice In Space, and gives transit times. There is also an awesome animation that he made of an earlier transit.
Mikes time's are actually for when Titan is already crossing the disk. Those with small scopes (114 mm, 4") will not be able to see Titan as it crosses Saturn, but you can see Titan make contact and vanish. According to me, first contact times are:
12:15 am, AEDST Monday 9 February (eastern states, Queenslanders subtract an hour)
11:45 pm, ACDST Sunday 8 February (SA, NT subtract an hour)
10:15 pm AWDST Sunday 8 February (WA).
There are further transits on February 24 and March 12.
Labels: Saturn, Titan, transit
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Heavy Metal on Titan
Via NewScientist, this is an MP3 file that lets you hear Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" as if played on Titan and Venus. That's assuming you could find instruments and a band that could survive crushingly dense superhot sulfuric acid atmospheres (or astoundingly frigid ones). The first clips is as it sounds on Earth, then on Titan, the sound is deep and rich and finally on Venus, despite being hot and heavy, the sound is surprisingly thin and tinny (but try increasing the volume). The combination of low temperature and slightly higher pressure on Titan means that sound is transmitted more efficiently. For the full paper explaining the atmospheric effects on sound, go here.
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
