"Earth's Twin" May Be in Our Solar System: Saturn's Moon, Titan --Hosts a Layered Atmosphere

Saturn's moon Titan may be more similar to an Earth-like world than previously thought, possessing a layered atmosphere just like our planet. Titan has long held interest for scientists because of its promise, as the only known moon in the solar system that has a dense atmosphere, there has been hope that it might host some form of life. Information provided by three separate spacecraft missions sent to the area has created more speculation about the moon, which is roughly twice the size of our own (which, quite inexplicably, still has no name) but is nine times farther away from the sun and a freezzing -180°C.

The first mission was Voyager 1, which flew by in 1981, followed by Cassini in 2004, and the next year by the Huygens probe, which actually landed on its surface. Despite the massive amounts of data collected by all three vehicles and the dense athmosphere, scientists have still not been able to get conclusive evidence on what is going on with Titan’s atmosphere.

To clear up some of the mystery, the two researchers --Benjamin Charnay, a planetary scientist at France's National Center of Scientific Research and colleague, Sébastien Lebonnois-- put together a three dimensional computer model that incorporates information collected from all three space vehicles that includes among other things, chemical compositions, dune movement and measurements of wind and cloud formations and were able to conclude that Titan’s atmosphere very clearly has at least one boundary, which is the part of an atmosphere that is impacted by the surface (friction, heat, etc.) and vice-versa.

But they also found evidence that there appears to be a second boundary as well that is likely caused by changes in seasonal air circulation. The lowest layer is most influenced by a planet or moon's surface, and has greatest influence on the surface with clouds and winds, as well as by sculpting dunes found on Titan.

Earth's boundary layer, which is between 1,650 feet and 1.8 miles (500 meters and 3 kilometers) thick, is controlled mostly by solar heat warming the planet's surface. Since Titan is more distnat from the sun, its boundary layer might behave quite differently. Titan's atmosphere is thick and opaque, obscuring our knowledge about its lower layers. "This layer is very important for the climate and weather — we live in the terrestrial boundary layer," said Charnay.

Their simulations revealed the lower atmosphere of Titan appears separated into two layers that are both distinct from the upper atmosphere in terms of temperature. The lowermost boundary layer is shallow, only about 2,600 feet (800 meters) deep and, like Earth's, changes on a daily basis. The layer above, which is 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) deep, changes seasonally.

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Moon and planets offer triple treat on Friday

Look toward the southwestern horizon just after sunset on Friday night and you’ll see a triple feature of Venus, Mercury, and the two-day old moon. And there's another planet treat in time for the pre-Halloween weekend, too.

You'll need a good low horizon and a clear sky to see the first three objects since they will be very low in the sky, less than 10 degrees up. Binoculars may help. For reference, a closed first held out at arm's length covers about 10 degrees of the night sky.

The accompanying sky map of the moon and planets here shows their locations on Friday evening.

The moon will be a razor-thin crescent, and the so-called "dark" side of the moon — actually its far side facing away from Earth, which is not always dark — should be well lit by sunlight reflecting off the Earth.

Venus should appear very bright, weather permitting. This may be the first glimpse you get of it this season, but it will soon be blazing bright every evening. Mercury will be directly under Venus.

All three objects will be very low because of the shallow angle the ecliptic — the path the sun takes across the sky — makes with the horizon on Friday. Notice that the sun is setting well to the south of the west point on the horizon, now that we're more than a month past the fall equinox.

The only days the sun sets due west is right on the equinoxes, which were March 20 and Sept. 23 this year.

A few minutes after sunset, turn around and look at the eastern horizon. You will see Jupiter rising there slightly north of due east, the brightest object in that part of the sky.

At 10 p.m. EDT on Friday, Jupiter will be opposition, exactly opposite the sun in the sky. On this night, Jupiter rises at sunset and sets at sunrise, so is visible all night long.

Binoculars or a small telescope can reveal Jupiter's four bright moons, allowing you to follow them as they constantly shift position, orbiting around the giant planet.

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2 Small Asteroids Zoom Between Earth and Moon's Orbit

A small asteroid zipped by Earth well inside the orbit of the moon today (Sept. 30), the second space rock encounter for our planet this week. Both asteroids posed no threat to Earth, scientists say.

"Small asteroid 2011 SM173 just passed Earth at a safe distance of 180,000 miles (290,000 km or .8 lunar distance)," scientists with NASA's Asteroid Watch program announced in a Twitter post today.

Asteroid 2011 SM173 was discovered yesterday by astronomers and is about 56 feet (17 meters) wide, making it about the size of a house. Its flyby came just four days after the pass of another space rock — the asteroid 2011 SE58 —which actually came even closer to Earth.

The 33-foot (10-m) wide asteroid 2011 SE58 slipped within 147,000 miles (236,573 km) of Earth during an evening flyby on Monday (Sept. 26), according to Asteroid Watch scientists.

The average distance between Earth and the moon is about 238,900 miles (384,402 km).

No threat to Earth
Both asteroids were too small to threaten Earth with a serious impact. If they had barreled into Earth, they likely would have burned up completely in Earth's atmosphere, the researchers said.

"Rocky asteroids the size of 2011 SE58 are not considered hazardous as they break up in the atmosphere & cause no ground damage," Asteroid Watch scientists wrote.

Asteroid 2011 SE58 was discovered by skywatchers on Sept. 21, according to database maintained by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.

By coincidence, the asteroid flybys this week occurred just as NASA announced the latest results from its efforts to find the largest near-Earth asteroids, objects that could potentially endanger Earth.

NASA's asteroid census has discovered about 90 percent of the largest near-Earth asteroids and revealed that the population of mid-size space rocks (asteroids about 3,300 feet, or 1,006 m, wide) is far lower than previously thought.

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Obscure Full Moon Names of 2011

Jan. 19, 4:21 p.m. EST – Full Wolf Moon: Amid the zero cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. The Full Wolf Moon was also known as the Old Moon or the Moon After Yule. In some tribes, this was also known as the Full Snow Moon; most applied that name to the next moon.

Feb. 18, 3:36 a.m. EST – Full Snow Moon: Usually the heaviest snows fall in this month. Hunting becomes very difficult, and hence to some tribes this was known as the Full Hunger Moon.

Mar. 19, 2:10 p.m. EDT – Full Worm Moon: In this month, the ground softens and the earthworm casts reappear, inviting the return of the robins.

The more northern tribes knew this as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signals the end of winter, or the Full Crust Moon because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night. TheFull Sap Moon, marking the time of tapping maple trees, is another variation.

The moon will also arrive at perigee only 50 minutes later at 3:00 p.m. EDT at a distance of 221,565 miles (356,575 kilometers) from Earth. So this is the biggest full moon of 2011. Very high ocean tides can be expected during the next two or three days, thanks to the coincidence of perigee with full moon.

Apr. 17, 10:44 p.m. EDT – Full Pink Moon: The grass pink or wild ground phlox is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Other names were the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon and – among coastal tribes – the Full Fish Moon, when the shad come upstream to spawn.

In 2011, this is also the Paschal Full Moon; the first full moon of the spring season. The first Sunday following the Paschal Moon is Easter Sunday, which indeed will be observed one week later on Sunday, April 24. This, incidentally, is just one day shy of the latest date that Easter can fall.

May 17, 7:09 a.m. EDT – Full Flower Moon: Flowers are now abundant everywhere. This moon was also known as the Full Corn Planting Moon or the Milk Moon.

Jun. 15, 4:14 p.m. EDT – Full Strawberry Moon: Strawberry picking season peaks during this month. Europeans called this the Rose Moon. There will be also be a total lunar eclipse that will be visible across much of South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Totality will last an unusually long length of time: 1 hour 40 minutes.

Jul. 15, 2:40 a.m. EDT – Full Buck Moon: when the new antlers of buck deer push out from their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. It was also often called the Full Thunder Moon, thunderstorms being now most frequent. Sometimes it's also called the Full Hay Moon.

Aug. 13, 2:57 p.m. EDT – Full Sturgeon Moon: When this large fish of the Great Lakes and other major bodies of water like Lake Champlain is most readily caught. A few tribes knew it as the Full Red Moon because when the moon rises it looks reddish through sultry haze, or the Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon.

The occurrence of this full moon on this particular date is rather poor timing for those who enjoy the annual performance of the Perseid meteor shower; this display will peak on this very same day and the brilliant light of the moon will likely wash out all but the very brightest of these swift streaks of light.

Sep. 12, 5:27 a.m. EDT – Full Harvest Moon: Traditionally, this designation goes to the full moon that occurs closest to the autumnal (fall) equinox. The Harvest Moon usually comes in September in the Northern Hemisphere, but (on average) once or twice a decade it will fall in early October.

At the peak of the harvest, farmers can work into the night by the light of this moon. Usually the moon rises an average of 50 minutes later each night, but for the few nights around the Harvest Moon, the moon seems to rise at nearly the same time each night – just 25 to 30 minutes later across the U.S., and only 10 to 20 minutes later for much of Canada and Europe. Corn, pumpkins, squash, beans and wild rice – the chief Indian staples – are now ready for gathering.

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How Common Are Earth-Moon Planetary Systems

Earth's Moon might have played an important role in the development and evolution of life on Earth. The Moon was formed via a giant impact in which a Mars-size projectile collided with the young Earth. The ejected material accumulated in orbit around our planet and formed the Moon. After its formation, the Moon was much closer to Earth than it is today, which caused high tides several times per day.

This may have helped promote the very early evolution of life. In addition, a stable climate of more than a billion years may be essential to guarantee a suitable environment for life. But without its satellite, Earth would suffer chaotic variations of the direction of its spin axis, which would in turn result in dramatic variations of the climate.

Therefore, concerning the habitability of extrasolar planets, it is reasonable to ask: How common are Earth-Moon planetary systems?

Sebastian Elser, Prof. Ben Moore and Dr. Joachim Stadel of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, along with Ryuji Morishima of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, ran a large set of N-body simulations to study the formation of the rocky planets in our solar system via the collisional growth of thousands of small rocky bodies in a disk around the Sun.

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