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Article: Weird water worlds.(probe to explore Titan, one of Saturn's moons)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- August 16, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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This January, a special probe will head for Titan, a moon of Saturn, and perhaps splash down into a surreal ocean that scientists suspect lies beneath its thick, hazy atmosphere. A vacation on Titan would mean shivering on an icy shoreline as the temperature dips below minus 289 degrees Fahrenheit. The ocean would swell with liquid methane and ethane instead of water, so swimming's out. But you might enjoy the view: Under Titan's orange-red skies, the waves of gasolinelike fluid could resemble Homer's "wine-dark seas."
Not the ideal seaside vacation, but other than Earth, it's the only place in this solar system where you can have one. If you insist on a shore ...