Sunlight reflecting off lake on Titan.

[Locut0s]

I love this kind of thing!!

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/cassini20091217.html

What you are seeing here is sunlight reflecting off a lake in the northern hemisphere of Titan at a very sharp angle. The picture was taken in infrared because the haze in the atmosphere blocks most other wavelengths. Now Casini had pretty much already shown that there were lakes on Titan via radar mapping of its surface. They found lots of perfectly flat areas in the radar data that screamed lakes but until this evidence they couldn't really be sure. Here are the radar images:

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060731.html

Now these would be methane lakes not water. After all Titan's surface temp is -179 C!

 

[SirStev0]

I am so glad we spend trillions of dollars to blow the shit out of each other instead of wasting it on the space program and the potential to one day view something like that IRL.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

I am so glad we spend trillions of dollars to blow the shit out of each other instead of wasting it on the space program and the potential to one day view something like that IRL.

$944 billion wouldn't get you that far...

Although it sure would bail out a lot of banks...

http://costofwar.com/

 

[Bateluer]

$944 billion wouldn't get you that far...

Although it sure would bail out a lot of banks...

http://costofwar.com/

The Apollo program ran about 145 billion in 2008 dollars, so I imagine 944 billion would be quite the enabler.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

The Apollo program ran about 145 billion in 2008 dollars, so I imagine 944 billion would be quite the enabler.

You need new batteries...

 

[geno]

I am so glad we spend trillions of dollars to blow the shit out of each other

What does prostitution have to do with this?

BTW : Awesome pic, OP. I love this stuff.

 

[Bateluer]

You need new batteries...

Explain. Unless Wikipedia's list of the cost of Apollo is inaccurate?

944 billion dollars would be a major boon to a number of NASA projects. Enough to get humans to Titan? Probably not.

 

[kingshoc]

Cool picture

 

[Jeff7]

Explain. Unless Wikipedia's list of the cost of Apollo is inaccurate?

944 billion dollars would be a major boon to a number of NASA projects. Enough to get humans to Titan? Probably not.

Oh it's easy to get humans to anywhere in the Solar System.
People just get all upset if the astronauts happen to be somewhat less than alive at any point during the trip.

 

[SunSamurai]

$944 billion wouldn't get you that far...

Although it sure would bail out a lot of banks...

http://costofwar.com/

He said 'trillions' and you pulled a number in the billions out of your ..... :hmm:

 

[BW86]

awesome pic

 

[Arcadio]

Reps to OP. That was cool.

 

[BeauJangles]

I wish this country was as obsessed with space, science, rockets, satellites, and moon rovers as we are with tanks, carriers, and fighter jets. Man, that would be sweet. Imagine if NASA and other scientific orgs had budgets of hundreds of billions of dollars.

 

[frodrick]

Am I the only one that fondly remembers playing Mines of Titan every time a story about Titan comes up?

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Explain. Unless Wikipedia's list of the cost of Apollo is inaccurate?

944 billion dollars would be a major boon to a number of NASA projects. Enough to get humans to Titan? Probably not.

For your sarcasm meter...

 

[PlasmaBomb]

He said 'trillions' and you pulled a number in the billions out of your ..... :hmm:

Department of Defense financial reports...

/facepalm

 

[SphinxnihpS]

I am so glad we spend trillions of dollars to blow the shit out of each other instead of wasting it on the space program and the potential to one day view something like that IRL.

It's an unfortunate reality in a survival of the fittest type universe, that if we didn't someone would blow the shit out of us. I know that might be too siencey for you, but it's the best I can do.

Also, great pic!

 

[meltdown75]

neat

 

[Zargon]

I wish this country was as obsessed with space, science, rockets, satellites, and moon rovers as we are with tanks, carriers, and fighter jets. Man, that would be sweet. Imagine if NASA and other scientific orgs had budgets of hundreds of billions of dollars.

maybe if nasa could stop fucking up and get one launch right and on time..........

 

[SunnyD]

I love this kind of thing!!
...
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060731.html

Now these would be methane lakes not water. After all Titan's surface temp is -179 C!

On the contrary, it's Titan's face. He's sad panda.

 

[rasczak]

On the contrary, it's Titan's face. He's sad panda.

lol wtf sunny?

OP nice pic thanks for sharing.

 

[SunnyD]

lol wtf sunny?

OP nice pic thanks for sharing.

Titan is sad. Isn't it obvious? He wishes he could be made out of cheese, like our moon. Instead, he's made out of liquid fart.

 

[crownjules]

maybe if nasa could stop fucking up and get one launch right and on time..........

Opposed to all those wars that didn't run massively overbudget and longer than first planned?

 

[BoomerD]

Opposed to all those wars that didn't run massively overbudget and longer than first planned?

While we're at it...let's not forget the one that was supposed to be paid for by oil revenues...instead of the American taxpayer.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

I wish this country was as obsessed with space, science, rockets, satellites, and moon rovers as we are with tanks, carriers, and fighter jets. Man, that would be sweet. Imagine if NASA and other scientific orgs had budgets of hundreds of billions of dollars.

We have expensive hobbies. we can only dedicate to one full time, Our other hobbies have to sit on the back burner for a bit.