There is an amazing reported discovery of oxygen for the first time. The Cassini probe found traces of oxygen on Saturn’s moon, Rhea.
While oxygen has been detected indirectly on other planet, this is the first direct measurement of O2.
NASA reported that:
The oxygen appears to arise when Saturn’s magnetic field rotates over Rhea. Energetic particles trapped in the planet’s magnetic field pepper the moon’s water-ice surface. They cause chemical reactions that decompose the surface and release oxygen. The source of the carbon dioxide is less certain.
Oxygen at Rhea’s surface is estimated to be about 5 trillion times less dense than what we have at Earth. But the new results show that surface decomposition could contribute abundant molecules of oxygen, leading to surface densities roughly 100 times greater than the exospheres of either Earth’s moon or Mercury. The formation of oxygen and carbon dioxide could possibly drive complex chemistry on the surfaces of many icy bodies in the universe.
I would not plan for visit anytime soon or at least bring a good sweater. The warmest areas reach -174°C (-281°F) and its shaded areas are a bit more chilly at -220 degrees°C (-364°F).
Jonathan Turley
lottakatz,
Thanks for the information and the rawstory link. As you say, it’s “huge.” Not too long ago, I saw an article about this — I knew that there had been talk about shutting down sites…
Totally off topic but:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/homeland-security-shuts-dozens-sites/
“Homeland Security shuts down dozens of Web sites without court order”
By Daniel Tencer
Friday, November 26th, 2010 — 2:25 pm
The Homeland Security Department’s customs enforcement division has gone on a Web site shutdown spree, closing down at least 76 domains this week, according to online reports.
****
This was done without court order and these are purely business sites suspected of selling counterfeit goods, file sharing or having posters that have posted links to file sharing sites.
This is HUGE. It’s also (IMO) a warning to Wikileaks and every site that might link to Wikileaks or re-post anything from Wikileaks. It’s also a clear indication that DHS is in the business of enforcing the will of corporate interests under the veil of national security.
BF,
Actually of all the moons mentioned, be cognizant of the primary issue: proximity to Earth.
It’s a lot cheaper to go to Jupiter than Saturn.
The distance to Jupiter from Earth varies between 4.2 to 6.2 AU (AU being an Astronomical Unit or ~93,000,000 miles, the average distance of the Earth from the Sun).
The distance to Jupiter varies between 8 to 11 AU, almost twice as far.
put a sign on it
last gas for 26 trillion miles
What about Saturn’s moon Enceladus? Cassini recently observed plumes of water erupting from cracks in the surface that appear to be rich in salts and organic compounds.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091124.html
Well you can never say never,they got fish to glow and all living things have genes:
This is tangental but scienc-y and nifty:
“Glowing trees could light up city streets”
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827885.000-glowing-trees-could-light-up-city-streets.html
A coupe of interesting quotes:
“The team managed to produce a range of colours by putting these genes into the Escherichia coli bacterium. They found that a volume of bacterial culture about the size of a regular wine bottle gave off enough light to read by.”
[A chandelier or occasional lighting of glass orbs filled with glowing bacteria that you ‘fed’ every now and then could be cool IMO]
“So are glowing trees coming soon to a street near you? It’s unlikely, says Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, a designer and artist who advised the Cambridge team. “We already have light bulbs,” she says. “We’re not going to spend our money and time engineering a replacement for something that works very well.”
[Kinda’ short-sighted to make a statement like that IMO but she’s an artist, not a scientist. Maybe she’s a steampunk fan at heart.]
eniobob, LOL, thanks. I always liked ‘vaseline glass’ until I read that the reason it glows under black-light is because it’s radioactive. It’s neat stuff except for that.
LK:
This will keep you at arms length:
BIL, “Gas giants have huge magnetic fields and there’s lots of ionizing radiation.”
**
Does that mean one should wear a dosimeter badge in Rush Limbaugh’s presence?
BIL:
ROFLMAO!!
eniobob,
But Canadians are really nice and no matter how cold it gets in Moose Jaw, it’s still warmer than Rhea or Europa. Considerably less radioactive too. Gas giants have huge magnetic fields and there’s lots of ionizing radiation.
Good we can by pass Canada,I think after this new congress is sworn in and start trying to put their plans in place we are going to need somewhere to go.
Oxygen…..What life is about….
Soyuz TMA-18 Descent Module Landing
Soyuz crew land safely on earth from ISS
A Russian cosmonaut and two NASA astronauts came safely back to Earth from the International Space Station in a Soyuz capsule Friday, Russian Mission Control said.
…
Soyuz commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and astronauts Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker landed at 4:47 GMT near Arkalyk in the steppe of Kazakhstan. They have been on the the ISS since June 18.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.b0f2637ddca58af9e324c05c182e9624.5f1&show_article=1
More Photos earlier landing
http://cryptome.org/info/soyuz-tma18/soyuz-tma18.htm
Jupiter’s moon Europa, that BIL mentioned, also has more water on it than all the Earth’s oceans.
Saturn’s environment poses challenges to many theories, still, after crushing many of them already.
For instance, there is more water on one of them than on all the oceans of the Earth.
frank,
That would be good too, but I submit that Jupiter’s moon Europa would be a better target for that kind of mission as it more likely has a subsurface ocean of liquid water (as opposed to convecting “warm” ice) than Rhea.
If only we could send a deep sea probe to look for steam vents. Imagine finding tube worms on a different planet.
Sweet.
A perfect environment for extremophiles. If we find any there, the next big question is how alike are they to life on Earth. It would answer some interesting question about prevalence of life in the universe and the theory of panspermia.
NASA needs to get to work on getting some samples from Rhea – a perfect mission for automated exploration on the cheap.