On December 17, astronomers announced an interesting discovery, revealing a surprising connection between Earth and Titan, the largest moon on Saturday.
In contrast to the belief that an immense underground ocean has existed for a decade, new research shows that the internal structure of this animal is actually a copy of the very cold regions on Earth.
According to the research team led by NASA experts, the cover of Titan does not completely hide a sea of liquid water. Instead, it is filled with thick layers of ice and a semi-liquid mixture of mud. This special geological structure is described as being identical to the environment in the ice seas in the North or South Poles of the Earth.
The discovery may seem like a bucket of cold water pouring into hope for life at first, but in reality, it opens up a new, promising direction.
Scientists explain why there are melted bags in that chaotic mud. These are the ideal "shelters" where life can completely be hiding and breeding, similar to the way microorganisms continue to live persistently in the eternal ice layer at the Earth's poles.
The similarity between Titan and Earth does not stop at ice structure. This celestial body also has a mechanism to operate the same as our Earth - Moon system.
Titan is always facing one side towards Mars due to the impact of tidal locking forces. This huge attractive force has stretched the surface of Titan, creating bulge deformities up to 10m in size.
Thanks to the analysis of the reaction delay of this titan surface against the attraction force, scientists have discovered the truth about the mud layer below.
If it were a flexible, loose ocean, the reaction would take place immediately, but in reality, the delay was up to 15 hours. This shows the thick and dense inner structure of titans, which makes the perfect covering for the life buds inside.
The representative of the research team affirmed that although Titan is not an ocean world in the traditional sense, finding an environment similar to Earth right in the solar System is a solid foundation for believing in the existence of planets. Nature always containsolutionary scenarios beyond human imagination.
The truth about the Earth's "ice brothers" is expected to be better understanding when NASA launches the Dragonfly exploration vehicle to the surface of Titan later this decade.
