Home > Ephemeris Program, Planets > 06/26/2012 – Ephemeris – Saturn’s moon Titan

06/26/2012 – Ephemeris – Saturn’s moon Titan

June 26, 2012

Ephemeris for Tuesday, June 26th.  Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 32 minutes, setting at 9:31.   The moon, at first quarter today, will set at 1:09 tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow the sun will rise at 5:59.

The planet Saturn appears above the bright blue-white stars Spica now.  The moon to the right of then tonight will pass below them Thursday morning.  Saturn is a wonderful sight in a small telescope and it’s largest satellite Titan will appear as a star nearby.  The latest news about Titan concerns a lake of liquid methane located in the equatorial regions of that moon.  The equatorial region seems too warm to support such a lake.  At the poles, yes as we have seen, but not at the equator.  The guess now is the that lake is fed from an underground aquifer.  With its atmosphere, clouds, lakes, rains, rivers and hilly terrain Titan is a spooky analog of the earth that’s 300 degrees colder.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Seeing through the clouds at Titan's surface.  Credit: NASA - Cassini

Seeing through the clouds at Titan’s surface. Credit: NASA – Cassini

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Planets Tags: ,
  1. heidi rictor's avatar
    heidi rictor
    June 27, 2012 at 12:45 am

    That is some really neat information about Titan. How do they determine temperature on planets/moons etc?

    • June 27, 2012 at 4:08 pm

      Temperatures of planets and moons are calculated by using the luminosity of the sun, the distance from the sun of the body and albedo or reflectance of the body. The body’s internal temperature will affect that. See “Effective Temperature” in Wikipedia. A spacecraft getting close to a moon or planet can use an infrared instrument to ascertain the temperature. Also check out Titan in Wikipedia for a whole lot more information.

      Bob

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