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An essay concerning the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune and their satellites is presented. Topics discussed include the organic compounds that can be found in the four planets such as methane and benzene, the energy and water sources of Uranus and Neptune and the exploration of Saturn's moon Titan.

The article discusses a report in a 2013 issue of the journal "Nature" regarding a description of how physicist Douglas Hemingway of the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), Francis Nimmo, and colleagues combined measurements of the bumpy shape and gravity of planet Saturn's moon Titan to probe Titan's icy interior. Topics include data from the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn, Titan's ice volcano, Sotra Facula, and Titan's methane atmosphere.

The article reports that the Cassini spacecraft discovered a river on Titan, one of the moons of planet Saturn.

The article discusses science research news as of August 2012. Research conducted by the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology found that mating flies were more likely to be detected by bats than flies who were sitting or walking, indicating that mating is a high-risk activity. Investigations into Saturn's moon Titan's geological processes, specifically erosion, is being conducted by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

The article introduces research reported in the issue, noting topics that include free will and human behavior, large igneous provinces (LIP) associated with volcanism, and rainfall on Saturn's moon Titan.

The article introduces a paper by Iess et al. elsewhere in the issue on the use of remote sensing to research the geology of Saturn's moon Titan. The research team used gravitational-field data collected by the Cassini-Huygens space vehicle to infer information on the unexpectedly-low temperature of the interior of Titan and its deterrent effect on melting of Titan's component ice and rock. The research team used gravitational-field information to estimate Titan's axial moment of inertia. Models of the interior structure of Titan are made possible by reference to that parameter and Titan's density.

The article introduces several research papers in the issue. A paper by Srivastava et al. reports on the techniques used to make helical nanoparticles, including oxidation of cadmium-tellurium, application of visible light, and doping with cadmium sulfide nanoparticles. Research by Ito et al. on thalidomide exposure indicates that its teratogenetic effects are exerted through binding with the protein cereblon. Iess et al. report on evaluations of the mass and geology of Titan, a moon of Saturn, based on gravity data collected by the Cassini space vehicle.

An interview with John Zarnecki, president of the nonprofit Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), is presented. Topics of the interview include Zarnecki's reason for taking such role at RAS, the aspect which made him interested in science, and his considered greatest professional achievement, such as landing on Titan satellite in 2005 through the Huygens probe.

The article discusses the rare chance by planetary scientists to choose the destination of their next space mission. An example is given of planetary scientist Jonathan Lunine's first glimpse of Saturn's moon Titan, his thoughts on whether or not he will experience something similar in his lifetime, and plans by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European Space Agency (ESA) to choose their next mission. Topics include the debate regarding the exploration of Jupiter's moon Europa or revisiting Titan, how scientists are attempting to combat the potential harm to life and spacecraft electronics from radiation, and the cost of radiation protection. Also discussed is the potential use of a hot-air balloon to study Titan's surface.

This article focuses on the exploration of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Wreathed in clouds and haze, Titan has long been the focus of Earth-based telescopes, and their probings have yielded tantalizing clues about the nature of the moon's surface. A quarter of a century after the two Voyager spacecraft visited the saturnian system, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft--a joint mission by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the European and Italian space agencies--has returned for a closer look at the giant planet, its rings, space environment and satellites, especially its largest moon Titan. Perhaps the most striking feature in the images of Titan is a bright, circular region, 30 km in diameter, with what seem to be two horn-shaped markings pointing to the west. Researchers attribute this feature to an icy volcanic dome, formed by an upwelling plume of "hot ice."

The Cassini Orbiter spacecraft first skimmed through the tenuous upper atmosphere of Titan on 26 October 2004. This moon of Saturn is unique in our solar system, with a dense nitrogen atmosphere that is cold enough in places to rain methane, the feedstock for the atmospheric chemistry that produces hydrocarbons, nitrile compounds, and Titan's orange haze. The data returned from this flyby supply new information on the magnetic field and plasma environment around Titan, expose new facets of the dynamics and chemistry of Titan's atmosphere, and provide the first glimpses of what appears to be a complex, fluid-processed, geologically young Titan surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled for launch in 2018, is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) but with a significantly larger aperture (6.5 m) and advanced instrumentation focusing on infrared science (0.6–28.0 μm). In this paper, we examine the potential for scientific investigation of Titan using JWST, primarily with three of the four instruments: NIRSpec, NIRCam, and MIRI, noting that science with NIRISS will be complementary. Five core scientific themes are identified: (1) surface (2) tropospheric clouds (3) tropospheric gases (4) stratospheric composition, and (5) stratospheric hazes. We discuss each theme in depth, including the scientific purpose, capabilities, and limitations of the instrument suite and suggested observing schemes. We pay particular attention to saturation, which is a problem for all three instruments, but may be alleviated for NIRCam through use of selecting small sub-arrays of the detectors—sufficient to encompass Titan, but with significantly faster readout times. We find that JWST has very significant potential for advancing Titan science, with a spectral resolution exceeding the Cassini instrument suite at near-infrared wavelengths and a spatial resolution exceeding HST at the same wavelengths. In particular, JWST will be valuable for time-domain monitoring of Titan, given a five- to ten-year expected lifetime for the observatory, for example, monitoring the seasonal appearance of clouds. JWST observations in the post-Cassini period will complement those of other large facilities such as HST, ALMA, SOFIA, and next-generation ground-based telescopes (TMT, GMT, EELT). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An image is captured by Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) of the spacecraft Cassini which portrays sunlight from Kraken Mare sea of Saturn's moon Titan and shows details of other seas of the moon, is presented.

The article reports that outer shell of Titan, Saturn's Moon, has liquid layer comprising of sodium, sulphur and potassium which when freezes leads to increase in outer ice layer of the Moon as per data of Italian Space Agency mission Cassini which also revealed presence of methane.

The article discusses research by Hofgartner et al. in a 2014 issue of the journal "Nature Geoscience" describing RADAR images from the Cassini spacecraft that reveal a changing shoreline in the northern methane sea of Ligeia Mare on planet Saturn's moon Titan in July 2013.

The article discusses a study conducted by researchers including Giuseppe Mitri at the National Institute of Astrophysics in Rome, Italy, according to which, planet Saturn's largest moon Titan has a frozen ocean that is saltier than many seas on Earth.

The article reports on the stable isotope analysis of nitrogen in the atmosphere of Titan, the largest moon of planet Saturn, which shows that nitrogen in Titan originated early in the formation of the solar system and is similar to that in Oort cloud comets.

The article focuses on the discovery of sunglint from Kraken Mare, a body of liquid on the surface of Saturn's moon called Titan, which has been determined using the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) of the Cassini spacecraft.

The article reports on the analysis done by researchers Douglas Hemingway and Francis Nimmo on data of the planet Saturn's moon Titan collected by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's spacecraft Cassini which shows evidence of ice shell over subsurface ocean of Titan.

We have developed a line-by-line Atmospheric Radiative Transfer for Titan code that includes the most recent laboratory spectroscopic data and haze descriptions relative to Titan's stratosphere. We use this code to model Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer data taken during the numerous Titan flybys from 2006 to 2012 at surface-intercepting geometry in the 600-1500 cm–1 range for latitudes from 50°S to 50°N. We report variations in temperature and chemical composition in the stratosphere during the Cassini mission, before and after the Northern Spring Equinox (NSE). We find indication for a weakening of the temperature gradient with warming of the stratosphere and cooling of the lower mesosphere. In addition, we infer precise concentrations for the trace gases and their main isotopologues and find that the chemical composition in Titan's stratosphere varies significantly with latitude during the 6 years investigated here, with increased mixing ratios toward the northern latitudes. In particular, we monitor and quantify the amplitude of a maximum enhancement of several gases observed at northern latitudes up to 50°N around mid-2009, at the time of the NSE. We find that this rise is followed by a rapid decrease in chemical inventory in 2010 probably due to a weakening north polar vortex with reduced lateral mixing across the vortex boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the film "Destination Titan," by Open University.

The article reports that a glint of light from Titan, Saturn's moon confirms the presence of liquid. The northern hemisphere of Titan had bodies of organic liquid, but the specular reflection taken by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer makes it certain.

An image of Titan, a satellite of the planet Saturn, taken by the orbiter Cassini is presented.

Nigel J Mason describes the range of state-of-the-art planetary science facilities now available through the Europlanet Research Infrastructure programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the exploration of Saturn's moon Titan as the most appealing target for outer-planet missions. He notes that over a 50-year period, planetary spacecraft have provided a wealth of astronomical discoveries such as the age of Venus' surface. He formulates an argument against the exploration of Jupiter's moon Europa and discusses the use of a hot-air balloon to explore Titan's surface and atmosphere as a technological first.

The article reflects on the radar imaging signals from the Cassini spacecraft's 'flyby' on 22 July 2006 that confirmed the methane lakes on the Saturn's moon Titan. Ellen Stofan, a geologist at University College London, UK, states that a real time email exploder facilitated an analysis by 38 scientists from various locations of the world to collate this evidence. Stofan states that without the communications technology the real time analysis from various locations is not possible.

The article informs about the monitoring activity of Saturn's giant moon Titan by planetary scientists. Planetary scientist Caitlin Griffith of the University of Arizona (UA), Tucson, Arizona and her teammates on Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer watched the four clouds visible on January 15, 2004 as Cassini approached Titan. Planetary scientist Ralph Lorenz of UA and colleagues showed early in 2005 that Titan's lower atmosphere loaded with methane but starved of heat energy by the distant sun and enshrouding haze should produce such rare but intense convection. That would help explain the heavily eroded icy terrains seen through Cassini's Huygens probe. Astronomer Henry Roe of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and his colleagues had a far more distant observing perch at the Keck and Gemini observatories on Hawaii's Mauna Kea, but they were able to monitor Titan much longer. Roe and colleagues are more intrigued by another geographic preference of Titan's clouds.

This article reports that Titan, Saturn's largest moon, and Earth are the only two bodies in the solar system with nitrogen-rich atmospheres. Although Earth's atmosphere has evolved partly under the influence of life and includes carbon dioxide as the main carbon species, Titan's remains more primitive, reducing, and rich in methane, and may resemble that hypothesized for the early Earth. The first close view of Titan came from Pioneer space probe and the two Voyager spacecrafts, which flew by in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The article informs about the mission to Saturn and its principal moon Titan. In January edition, use of GC-MS on the Cassini-Huygens mission was reported. The chromatographic instrument has unveiled new information. The gas chromatograph mass spectrometer has detected a "whiff" of methane evaporating off the surface and data has also shown indications of gas flowing into its sensing area. These gaseous outbursts were released as heat generated by Huygens warmed the soil beneath the probe. This is a tantalizing glimpse of the processes at work on Titan and shows how the weather systems operate.