APOD: Titan: Moon over Saturn (2018 May 26)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
Post Reply
User avatar
APOD Robot
Otto Posterman
Posts: 5344
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:27 am
Contact:

APOD: Titan: Moon over Saturn (2018 May 26)

Post by APOD Robot » Sat May 26, 2018 4:05 am

Image Titan: Moon over Saturn

Explanation: Like Earth's moon, Saturn's largest moon Titan is locked in synchronous rotation. This mosiac of images recorded by the Cassini spacecraft in May of 2012 show's its anti-Saturn side, the side always facing away from the ringed gas giant. The only moon in the solar system with a dense atmosphere, Titan is the only solar system world besides Earth known to have standing bodies of liquid on its surface and an earthlike cycle of liquid rain and evaporation. Its high altitude layer of atmospheric haze is evident in the Cassini view of the 5,000 kilometer diameter moon over Saturn's rings and cloud tops. Near center is the dark dune-filled region known as Shangri-La. The Cassini-delivered Huygens probe rests below and left of center, after the most distant landing for a spacecraft from Earth.

<< Previous APOD This Day in APOD Next APOD >>

scr33d
Ensign
Posts: 40
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2012 2:37 pm

Re: APOD: Titan: Moon over Saturn (2018 May 26)

Post by scr33d » Sat May 26, 2018 5:42 am

It just so happened that yesterday I started to re-read Imperial Earth, by Clarke...

heehaw

Re: APOD: Titan: Moon over Saturn (2018 May 26)

Post by heehaw » Sat May 26, 2018 9:47 am

After all these decades as an astronomer, first amateur then professional, I only became aware TODAY, from APOD, that Titan rotates synchronously!

De58te
Commander
Posts: 583
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2013 6:35 pm

Re: APOD: Titan: Moon over Saturn (2018 May 26)

Post by De58te » Sat May 26, 2018 11:07 am

heehaw wrote: Sat May 26, 2018 9:47 am After all these decades as an astronomer, first amateur then professional, I only became aware TODAY, from APOD, that Titan rotates synchronously!
That's probably because until Cassini's visit, nobody could tell if Titan was tidally locked because its dense atmosphere prevented anybody from seeing a surface feature. It was just presumed since all other major satellites are tidally locked to their primary.

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: APOD: Titan: Moon over Saturn (2018 May 26)

Post by neufer » Sat May 26, 2018 11:42 am

De58te wrote: Sat May 26, 2018 11:07 am
heehaw wrote: Sat May 26, 2018 9:47 am
After all these decades as an astronomer, first amateur then professional, I only became aware TODAY, from APOD, that Titan rotates synchronously!
That's probably because until Cassini's visit, nobody could tell if Titan was tidally locked because its dense atmosphere prevented anybody from seeing a surface feature. It was just presumed since all other major satellites are tidally locked to their primary.
Surface features on Titan were first identified in 1994 using infrared wavelengths on the newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope.

25 moons are now known to be Synchronously tidally locked.

Only Saturn's Phoebe & Hyperion and Jupiter's Himalia & Elara are known not to be locked.
http://nineplanets.org/data1.html wrote:

Code: Select all

           Radius    Mass                    Rotate  Dimensions
Name        (km)     (kg)   Dens  Abo    Vo  (days)     (km)
--------- -------  -------  ----  --- -----  ------  ----------
Moon         1738  7.35e22  3.34  .12 -12.7     S
.....................................................................
Phobos         11  1.08e16  1.9   .06  11.3     S    13.5 x 10.8 x 9.4
Deimos          6  1.80e15  1.8   .07  12.3     S    7.5 x 6.1 x 5.5
.....................................................................
Metis          20  9.56e16  2.8   .05  17.5     ?
Adrastea       10  1.91e16  4.5   .05  18.7     ?    12.5 x 10 x 7.5
Amalthea       94  3.5 e18  1.    .05  14.1     S    135 x 83 x 75
Thebe          50  7.77e17  1.5   .05  16.0     S    55 x 45
Io           1821  8.93e22  3.53  .61   5.0     S 
Europa       1565  4.80e22  2.99  .64   5.3     S
Ganymede     2634  1.48e23  1.94  .42   4.6     S
Callisto     2403  1.08e23  1.85  .20   5.6     S
Leda            8  5.68e15  2.7     ?  20.2     ?
Himalia        93  9.56e18  2.8     ?  15.0    0.4
Lysithea       18  7.77e16  3.1     ?  18.2     ?
Elara          38  7.77e17  3.3     ?  16.6    0.5
Ananke         15  3.82e16  2.7     ?  18.9     ?
Carme          20  9.56e16  2.8     ?  17.9     ?
Pasiphae       25  1.91e17  2.9     ?  16.9     ?
Sinope         18  7.77e16  3.1     ?  18.0     ?
.....................................................................
Pan            10     ?       ?   .5    ?       ? 
Atlas          15     ?       ?   .9   18.0     ?    20 x 10
Prometheus     46  2.70e17  0.7   .6   15.8     ?    72 x 43 x 32
Pandora        42  2.20e17  0.7   .9   16.5     ?    57 x 42 x 31
Epimetheus     57  5.59e17  0.6   .8   15.7     S    69 x 55 x 55
Janus          89  1.98e18  0.65  .8   14.5     S    99 x 96 x 76
Mimas         199  3.75e19  1.14  .5   12.9     S
Enceladus     249  7.30e19  1.12  .99  11.7     S
Tethys        530  6.22e20  1.00  .9   10.2     S
Telesto        15     ?       ?   .5   18.7     ?    17 x 14 x 13
Calypso        13     ?       ?   .6   19.0     ?    17 x 11 x 11
Dione         560  1.05e21  1.44  .7   10.4     S
Helene         16     ?       ?   .7   18.4     ?    18 x 16 x 15
Rhea          764  2.31e21  1.24  .7    9.7     S
Titan        2575  1.35e23  1.88  .21   8.3     S
Hyperion      143  1.77e19  1.4   .3   14.2  chaotic 185 x 140 x 113
Iapetus       718  1.59e21  1.02  .2   11.1     S    (y)
Phoebe        110           1.6   .06  16.5    0.4   115 x 110 x 105
.....................................................................
Cordelia       13     ?       ?   .07  24.0     ?
Ophelia        16     ?       ?   .07  24.0     ?
Bianca         22     ?       ?   .07  23.0     ?
Cressida       33     ?       ?   .07  22.0     ?
Desdemona      29     ?       ?   .07  22.0     ?
Juliet         42     ?       ?   .07  22.0     ?
Portia         55     ?       ?   .07  21.0     ?
Rosalind       27     ?       ?   .07  22.0     ?
Belinda        34     ?       ?   .07  22.0     ?
Puck           77     ?       ?   .07  20.0     ?
Miranda       236  6.59e19  1.20  .27  16.5     S    240 x 234 x 233
Ariel         581  1.35e21  1.67  .34  14.4     S    581 x 578 x 578
Umbriel       585  1.17e21  1.40  .18  15.3     S
Titania       789  3.53e21  1.71  .27  14.0     S
Oberon        761  3.01e21  1.63  .24  14.2     S
Caliban        40                 .07  21.9
Stephano       15                 .07  24.3
Sycorax        80                 .07  20.4
Prospero       20                 .07  23.2
Setebos        20                 .07  23.3
.....................................................................
Naiad          29     ?       ?   .06  25.0     ?
Thalassa       40     ?       ?   .06  24.0     ?
Despina        74     ?       ?   .06  23.0     ?
Galatea        79     ?       ?   .06  23.0     ?
Larissa        96     ?       ?   .06  21.0     ?    104 x 89
Proteus       209     ?       ?   .06  20.0     ?    218 x 208 x 201
Triton       1353  2.15e22  2.05  .7   13.6     S
Nereid        170     ?       ?   .2   18.7     ?
.....................................................................
Charon        603  1.52e21  1.72  .32  15.5     S    (z)
Nix            23   < 2e18    ?     ?  22.9     ?    (z)
Hydra          30   < 2e18    ?     ?  23.4     ?    (z)
----------------------------------------------------------------
Art Neuendorffer

Rusty Brown in Cda

Re: APOD: Titan: Moon over Saturn (2018 May 26)

Post by Rusty Brown in Cda » Sat May 26, 2018 12:54 pm

"...show's its anti-Saturn side..."
They're putting apostrophes in verbs now?

Steve Dutch

Re: APOD: Titan: Moon over Saturn (2018 May 26)

Post by Steve Dutch » Sat May 26, 2018 3:20 pm

Note how you can see a zone where the rings are visible but distorted by Titan's upper atmosphere.

Cassini was the most awesomely perfect mission ever flown.

ta152h0
Schooled
Posts: 1399
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:46 am
Location: Auburn, Washington, USA

Re: APOD: Titan: Moon over Saturn (2018 May 26)

Post by ta152h0 » Sat May 26, 2018 8:47 pm

I don't remember ever seeing this before. Keep posting images never seen before, like F4 Phantoms chasing Gemini 2 launches.
Wolf Kotenberg

ta152h0
Schooled
Posts: 1399
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:46 am
Location: Auburn, Washington, USA

Re: APOD: Titan: Moon over Saturn (2018 May 26)

Post by ta152h0 » Sat May 26, 2018 8:48 pm

You are all supercalifragicetc !
Wolf Kotenberg

heehaw

Re: APOD: Titan: Moon over Saturn (2018 May 26)

Post by heehaw » Sat May 26, 2018 10:10 pm

A couple of moons, as I recall, are chaotic in their rotation! What if our own Moon had been chaotic in its rotation! Whee!

Beechy
Asternaut
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 11:47 pm

Re: APOD: Titan: Moon over Saturn (2018 May 26)

Post by Beechy » Sun May 27, 2018 12:12 am

Is the visible line, the high altitude haze that's mentioned? Why is it visible?

saturno2
Commander
Posts: 755
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 10:05 pm

Re: APOD: Titan: Moon over Saturn (2018 May 26)

Post by saturno2 » Sun May 27, 2018 2:02 am

Titan is a Moon very interesting because
it has atmosphere and liquids on the surface

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: APOD: Titan: Moon over Saturn (2018 May 26)

Post by neufer » Mon May 28, 2018 5:30 pm

Beechy wrote: Sun May 27, 2018 12:12 am
Is the visible line, the high altitude haze that's mentioned? Why is it visible?
https://www.etymonline.com/word/haze wrote:
haze (n.) "opaqueness of the atmosphere," 1706, probably a back-formation of hazy (q.v.). Sense of "confusion, vagueness" is 1797. The differentiation of haze, mist, fog (and other dialectal words) is unmatched in other tongues, where the same word generally covers all three and often "cloud" as well; this may be an effect of the English climate on the English language.

hazy (adj.) 1620s, hawsey, nautical, of unknown origin. Some connect it with German hase "hare," an animal which plays an important part in Germanic folklore, with many supernatural and unlucky aspects in medieval times (among the superstitions: a dead hare should not be brought aboard a fishing ship, and the word hare should not be spoken at sea). Another suggestion is Old English hasu, haswe "gray."
Art Neuendorffer

Post Reply