“Ice Volcano” on Titan
by Joseph on Nov.10, 2004, under Main
NASA is at it again. Just days after their questionable logic surrounding the Mars rover Opportunity, they are now reporting that there may be an ice volcano on Saturn’s moon Titan. Slow down there, NASA! This isn’t an episode of Star Trek, this is a little thing we call reality. You can’t just make up words like “cryovolcanic” and expect us to accept it. You can’t have an ice volcano, either. The word “volcano” derives from the Roman god of fire Vulcan. Hey, it’s another Star Trek connection! Imagine that! And besides, we already have a name for molten ice. It’s called “water.” Look scientists, we know that you’re smart. You don’t have to come up with crazy discoveries every week to keep us interested in space. Now, don’t get back to us until you find moon whales swimming in the “molten ice” under Titan’s surface.
Ice volcano: suprisingly similar to a normal volcano tinted blue.
4 Comments for this entry
1 Trackback or Pingback for this entry
-
Alex Spinton's Thoughts » Blog Archive » NASA: At it Again
November 11th, 2004 on 1:46 am[...] st be important because they do things with outer space. (Hat tip for the Saturn story: Next HTTP://.)
Follow any responses to this entry throu [...]
November 11th, 2004 on 6:52 am
it looks fake. like someone took an inactive volcano, painted the “eruption” on it in a blue tint. That’s my opinion. Gimme some shots from space, not shots from the side, so I can see that this “ice volcano” is actually on a moon, and not generated by some loon’s sloppy CG artwork.
September 13th, 2010 on 3:20 pm
Thats becaue it is cg, Titans atmosphere is too dense for us to get a really good view of the land. And the physics for an ice volcano are sound, Titans crust is free floating on a liquid water mantle, the water is mostly in liquid form due to the fact the core of titan has radioactive materials present which generate a heating effect. When this water is forced to the surface in an “erruption” it instantly freezes as titans surface is a whopping negative 300 degrees centigrade.
Another interesting fact is that methane is in a liquid form on the surface creating vast lakes and seas. However the waves these accumulations of liquid methane have are unlike any waves ever seen on earth. They posses a FAR higher amplitude, (much taller) and the duration between waves is much longer, this is in part due to the intense wind this moon experiences (it even plays an effect on its free floating crust).
Feel free to contact me on sbdaemon@gmail.com
November 11th, 2004 on 6:53 am
oh yeah, and why is everything dark, but the “ice” is shining like a star? Blacklight?
November 11th, 2004 on 12:16 pm
Methinks thou doth take my post too seriously, Eric. Though if you did take a picture of ice with a flash, it would stand out from the background as though it were backlit due to the reflection, and this higher contrast would darken the rest of the image. But still, no.