"Z gwiezdnego pyłu powstałeś Człowiecze.. * From the Stardust You're Created, Dude! - Part VII

♄  Methane-Based Aliens May Exist on Saturn's Moon Titan  ♄

Obce formy życia oparte na metanie (a nie tlenie) mogą istnieć na księżycu Saturna - Tytanie - podaje NASA (tekst w oryginale, ale nie jest długi)

Researchers at Cornell University have come up with "the first concrete blueprint of life not as we know it." Scientists believe they have come up with a concrete model for a new type of methane-based, oxygen-free life form that could prosper in the harsh, icy conditions of Saturn's mysterious freezing moon, Titan.

Reported in the journal Science Advances, the new life form suggests that Titan could have methane-based, oxygen-free cells composed of small organic nitrogen compounds, which are adept at enduring liquid methane temperatures of 292 degrees below zero.

The researchers have now determined that cells based on methane, which has a much lower freezing point than water, can also give rise to a life form. The hypothetical cell membrane has been named an azotosome.

The university said, “The azotosome is made from nitrogen,  carbon and hydrogen molecules known to exist in the cryogenic seas of Titan, but shows the same stability and flexibility that Earth's analogous liposome does.”

Saturn's giant moon Titan is the only other planetary body in the Solar System that has naturally occurring surface liquids – it contains vast seas of methane.

Based on that fact the university's researchers theorized that Titan could harbor methane-based, oxygen-free cells.

Source: Here*

Titan (Saturn's largest moon)

Titan (greek mythology) = any of the older gods who preceded the Olympians and were the children of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth). Led by Cronus, they overthrew Uranus; Cronus' son, Zeus, then rebelled against his father and eventually defeated the Titans.

"He was one of the Titans, the children of Gaia and Ouranos, Earth and Sky."

Titan (in astronomy) = the largest satellite of Saturn, the fifteenth closest to the planet, discovered by C. Huygens in 1655, and having a diameter of 3,200 miles (5,150 km). It is unique in having a hazy atmosphere of nitrogen, and methane and other hydrocarbons.

Powierzchnia Tytana wg. sondy Cassini (NASA)

You wanna more? Titan may be older than Saturn, a new study suggests!  (Słuchajcie tego, być może Tytan (księżyc) jest starszy od samego ... Saturna!) --  Link*

It’s well accepted that moons form after planets. In fact, only a few months ago, astronomers spotted a new moon forming deep within Saturn’s rings, 4.5 billion years after the planet initially formed.

But new research suggests Saturn’s icy moon Titan — famous for its rivers and lakes of liquid methane — may have formed before its parent planet, contradicting the theory that Titan formed within the warm disk surrounding an infant Saturn.

Normalnie zwykło się uważać, że księżyce formują się po planetach. Ale w rzeczywistości, zaledwie parę miesięcy temu odkryto nowo-formujący się księżyc, głęboko pomiędzy pierścieniami Saturna a te przecież uformowały się wg. NASA, 4,5 mld lat temu przed powstaniem planet. Lodowy Tytan - który zasłynął rzekami i jeziorami z ciekłego metanu, mógł uformować się przed planetami, obalając tym samym dotychczasową teorię, iż utworzył się z gorącego dysk otaczającego młody Saturn.

Look at this small dot below the Saturn's rings

Maybe this is a moon? (Widzicie tę małą kropkę w dole pierścienia Saturna? Naukowcy sądzą, że na naszych oczach rodzi się nowy księżyc tego olbrzyma).

This is another image captured by the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn. See that tiny bright spot at the edge of the A-Ring? That spot is the subject of a paper just published in the journal Icarus and it’s really interesting; the scientists think it may be evidence of a newly formed Moon. Who knows, if nobody knows?

More about: Here*

NASA ‘dream fund’ selects submarine for Saturn moon
(Podwodny Robot na Tytana)

A robot submarine for exploring the methane oceans of Saturn’s giant moon, Titan, a greenhouse on Mars and a spacecraft that hitches rides on comets to the outer solar system are just three of the far-out ideas NASA is backing in its latest round of funding for the distant future of space exploration.

Each year NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) programme asks researchers to submit ideas for space technology that could prove useful in the next few decades. Last year selections included two-dimensional spacecraft and suspended animation.

More about:  Here*

And now more about the Saturn (A teraz już tylko Saturn):

New true color image of Saturn taken by Cassini on July 2nd, 2014

At two photos above you may see Titan behind the rings of Saturn from 3 million km away

Another Saturn's moon - Iapetus as seen by the Cassini probe (is the third-largest natural satellite of Saturn, eleventh-largest in the Solar System, and the largest body in the Solar System known not to be in hydrostatic equilibrium)

Backlit Saturn - Seen from the Cassini Spacecraft

Saturnian Storm Source Credit NASAJPL-Caltech SSI

Saturn at Equinox

Aurora over Saturn

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Previous parts:

Część (Part) I - TUTAJ (HERE)

Część (Part) II - TUTAJ (HERE)

Część (Part) III - TUTAJ (HERE)
Część (Part) IV - TUTAJ (HERE)

Część (Part) V - TUTAJ (HERE)

 

Część (Part) VI - TUTAJ (HERE)