[identity profile] rikchik.livejournal.com 2006-07-28 03:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I just took a look - the sun visibly weaves across Titan's sky.
cnoocy: green a-e ligature (Default)

[personal profile] cnoocy 2006-07-28 03:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[[livejournal.com profile] cnoocy buzzes in]
Alex Trebek: [livejournal.com profile] cnoocy. Go ahead.
[livejournal.com profile] cnoocy: Does that make it impossible to domify the Huygens landing?

[identity profile] rikchik.livejournal.com 2006-07-28 04:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Huygens's horoscope isn't completely in jeopardy (and domification is the least of our troubles). You need a circular ecliptic and a circular equator - the vernal equinox is where they meet. I think these are your options:

  • Titan-Sun: Use the average line of the Sun's path (which is effectively Saturn's ecliptic) as Titan's ecliptic, and use Titan's equator as the equator.
  • Saturn-Sun: Use Saturn's ecliptic and Saturn's equator. (This would mean that all of Saturn's moons would have the same zodiac.) This is a little wierd, since you'd still need Titan's pole to do domification.
  • Titan-Saturn: Use Saturn's path across Titan's sky as the ecliptic, and use Titan's equator as the equator. This is the most elegant, but is quite a departure. OTOH, Saturn is BY FAR more visible than Sol from Titan. I guess you'd use Saturn signs instead of Sun signs?

Not sure which of these is best.
cnoocy: green a-e ligature (Default)

[personal profile] cnoocy 2006-07-28 04:20 pm (UTC)(link)
You could do all three and see which one best corresponded with the circumstances of the event itself.

[identity profile] rikchik.livejournal.com 2006-07-28 05:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Ack! Just took a closer look. Titan is in a synchronous orbit with Jupiter and has zero axial tilt. That means that the Titan-Saturn option is right out - Titan's equator = Saturn's path through Titan's sky. Also, Titan's equator/orbit is only a third of a degree from Saturn's equator, so the Titan-Sun and Saturn-Sun methods would only differ slightly.