This could help astronomers find lightnings as well

May 12, 2010 18:01 GMT  ·  By
Clouds are seen in this image covering the south polar regions on Saturn's moon Titan
   Clouds are seen in this image covering the south polar regions on Saturn's moon Titan

While modern technology has ensured that we become capable of observing the outer surface of a planet, as well as some of its internal structure, we are still currently incapable of learning what a planet or moon sounds like. This is of extreme importance for the field of space weather, given that this type of data could allow researchers, for example, to keep track of thunderstorms on Jupiter, Saturn, and the latter's largest moon, Titan. The datasets could also be used to infer the potential locations of lightnings, events which can give additional details about the atmosphere of the target object, Space reports.

At this point, space scientists are hard at work in developing methods of capturing the sounds Titan makes. The new sensors will be especially apt at tracking down thunders, thus allowing future space exploration probes to immediately orient themselves in the best position possible for conducting observations of the lightnings that may ensue. Though no such electrical discharges have thus far been observed on Titan, physicists say that there is no reason to believe they do not exist.

This assumption is derived from computer models that are themselves based on the vast amount of data collected by the Voyager missions, the European Space Agency (ESA)-built Huygens lander, and the long-lived NASA Cassini spacecraft. The latter has been orbiting Saturn since July 1, 2004, and has since produced amazing data on the planet, its surface, its rings, and most of its moons. Data from all these probes hints at the fact that lightning is possible in the thick atmosphere of Titan. In other words, observing it is a matter of luck, and of being in the right place at the right time.

The existing models predict that lightning would cover a distance of about 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) from clouds to the surface of the moon. Titan's atmosphere is made up of a nitrogen-methane mix that researchers believe it has what it takes to develop electrical charges, and therefore lightnings. Studies done by University of Louisiana in Lafayette physics professor Andi Petculescu determined from this data that the peak sound frequency of the moon's thunders should exit somewhere around the 100 Hertz threshold.

“The structure of Titan's troposphere is such that an observer on the surface would receive the acoustic rays generated by the first 200 to 300 meters (656 to 984 feet) of the discharge channel, the rest being refracted upward. What sets [Titan] apart is its heavy hydrocarbon presence. Imagine methane rain, snow, rivers, seas, and volcanoes, all at minus 178 degrees Celsius!” Petculescu writes in an e-mail.