more news from cassini's close approach...

[Mike70]

to enceladus and it is damn riveting news indeed. turns out that some data was indeed returned by the instrument intended to sample what is coming from the water/ice geysers on enceladus. turns out that mixed in with the ice is a huge amount of organic chemicals, some in concentrations 20 times higher than expected. the moon is also hot in some places, very hot. turns out that the "tiger stripe" fractures in the southern hemisphere where the water/ice is coming from are a full 93 deg C (almost 200 deg F) hotter than the rest of the moon. so it appears that there is a warm liquid water enviroment on enceladus that has lots of organic chemicals mixed in with it. here is an infrared image of the tiger stripe areas (converted to a visible heat pattern) and here is a link to the entire article: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/pres...cfm?newsID=827

[Danny]

my two cents? the moons a giant egg and that heat signatures a clawed hand near the surface, giant turtle or cthulu reborn?, you be the judge. -bloody intersting though inni't?

[Mike70]

my two cents? the moons a giant egg and that heat signatures a clawed hand near the surface, giant turtle or cthulu reborn?, you be the judge. -bloody intersting though inni't? yes damn interesting. and if it is cthulu or some other space monster i am glad that i don't live in new york or tokyo. city eating monsters always head to those places first. on another tip: it is going to be really interesting to see what cassini comes up with on its next two close passes to enceladus. both are going to be focusing in on the southern hemisphere where all the action is. also: cassini has to be some of the best money ever spent by nasa, the esa (european space agency), and the isa (italian space agency). the number of shattering discoveries it has come up with is absolutely staggering. total coast: 3.2 billion dollars. here is the breakdown: $2.6 billion from nasa $500 million from the esa $160 million from the isa. and since cassini is being powered by a RTG (a chip of plutonium that generates electricity through radioactive decay) it is going be sending back data for years, even decades to come.

[DubiousComforts]

and if it is cthulu or some other space monster i am glad that i don't live in new york or tokyo. Cthulhu isn't a space monster, and if it or some other giant monster did show up, Gamera would kill him for us. Everyone knows that.

[Mike70]

Cthulhu isn't a space monster, yeah man i've been reading lovecraft for ages. i'm just trying to roll with the theme of enceladus being a giant egg. all in fun. until tokyo is shredded that is.