http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/10/titan-saturns-p.html

October 23, 2008

Titan: Saturn’s Plugged In Moon Host to Electrical Storms

Spanish physicists at the University of Granada and the University of Valencia have used data sent back by the Cassini-Huygens probe from Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. Already unique in that it is the only other body within our solar system that has an atmosphere, researchers also found that it is home to electric storms within its atmosphere.

“In this moon there are clouds with convective movements and therefore there can be static electric fields and stormy conditions,” explains Juan Antonio Morente, from the Department of Applied Physics of the University of Granada. “It significantly increases the chance that organic and prebiotic molecules get formed, according to the theory of Russian biochemist Alexander I. Oparín and Stanley L. Miller’s experiment.”

Oparín and Miller’s experiment was the first to form organic compounds from inorganic compounds using only electric shocks.

In their study of Titan, Morente and his team measured the Schumann resonances, a set of spectrum peaks in the ELF portion of a planet’s or moon’s electromagnetic field. Titan’s electric field was measured using the Mutual Impedance (MIP) sensor aboard the Huygens probe.

“In a stable descent, without rolling, the MIP sensor would have been able to measure the peak tangential component of the electric field”, says Morente, “but unfortunately a strong wind made the probe to roll and the electrodes measured a superposition of such tangential and radial component”.

Despite this setback, and due to the lack of Schumman resonances received back from Huygens, the Spanish research team designed a process to reveal Schumman hidden resonances which allowed them to obtain what they believe is “irrefutable proof” that there is natural electric activity in Titan’s atmosphere.

While such a discovery does not mean we’ll be visiting Titan in the next decade, it does propose some interesting questions for astronomers and scientists alike. This adds another tick next to the “Titan is like Earth” box, and will only continue to provide information as we continue to study it in the near future.

http://www.physorg.com/news143889585.html