October 20, 2000

2:04 PM

"clouds and even rain showers seem to have been spotted on Titan, Saturn's largest moon.Scientists have already labeled Titan a hot spot in the search for extraterrestrial life, and the new work adds to that enthusiasm." You bet it does.
posted by owillis (10 comments total)

Methane Rain!!? Hope no one decides to light a match.
posted by Cavatica at 2:28 PM on October 20, 2000

I always thought Europa, with its hypothetical salt water sea under a massive ice crust, was considered the likeliest host for extraterrestrial organisms.
posted by highindustrial at 2:47 PM on October 20, 2000

You bet it does


There really should be an offshore website that holds bets on where we'll find living alien life.
posted by skallas at 5:40 PM on October 20, 2000

"All these worlds are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landings there."
posted by Aaaugh! at 8:54 PM on October 20, 2000

"My god, it's full of stars."
posted by Zool at 3:40 PM on October 21, 2000

Zoinks! I was just watching 2010 this morning. Full of stars, indeed.
posted by highindustrial at 6:23 PM on October 21, 2000

We're getting off topic, but 2010 blew something and should have known better.

In 2001, one pod was lost when Hal took it over and used it to kill Poole during an EVA.

A second pod was lost when Bowman did his famous through-the-vacuum entry into the emergency lock.

Bowman rode the third pod into the monolith.

By the time the rescue mission arrived 9 years later, all three pods should have been gone. But they found one. Where did it come from? Bowman certainly wouldn't have bothered going out to retrieve the first or second ones when he had a third one left and was the last crewman alive.

It made no difference whatever in the plot of 2010; I think they put it in just because they wanted to make one and put it on the set. An empty pod bay would be a lot less visually interesting than one which still had a pod in it.

posted by Steven Den Beste at 6:41 PM on October 21, 2000

Well, for one thing, Steven, 2010 was based on Clarke's novel, which was a sequel to the novel 2001, which was different from the movie due to creative differences between Clarke and Kubrick. Maybe that has something to do with it? (None of my copies are easily grabbable right now.)
posted by dhartung at 7:42 PM on October 21, 2000

Bowman rode it back. It's his cosmic chariot now, like the Silver Surfer has his surfboard.
posted by sudama at 8:27 PM on October 21, 2000

Well, Dan, didn't Clarke actually write 2010 as a sequel to Kubrick's movie? In Clarke's 2001, the Discovery went into Saturn orbit and found the monolith on Iapetus, that wacky moon with one black side and one white side. But in 2010 the book, everything occurred in Jupiter orbit based on the events in Kubrick's 2001. I believe Clarke wrote about his motivation to do this in the preface or the afterword, whatever.
posted by daveadams at 8:35 PM on October 23, 2000