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Titan’s Gravity Indicates a Thicker, Uneven Icy Crust

Friday, December 7, 2012 2:10

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(Before It's News)

Color composite of Titan and Dione made from Cassini images acquired in May 2011. (NASA/JPL/SSI/J. Major)

It’s long been speculated that Saturn’s moon Titan may be harboring a global subsurface ocean below an icy crust, based on measurements of its rotation and orbit by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Titan exhibits a density and shape that indicates a pliable liquid internal layer — an underground ocean — possibly composed of water mixed with ammonia, a combination that would help explain the consistent amount of methane found in its thick atmosphere.

Now, further analysis of Cassini gravity measurements by a Stanford University team has shown that Titan’s ice layer is thicker and less uniform than originally estimated, indicating a more complex internal structure — and a stronger external influences for its heat.
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Read the rest of Titan’s Gravity Indicates a Thicker, Uneven Icy Crust (435 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Cassini, gravity, moons, ocean, Saturn, Stanford, tidal flexing, Titan