Titan's massive ice cloud suggests five more years of winter, at least
The current weather on Titan indicates how long its southern winter will be. Which, as it turns out, will be pretty long and really cold.聽
Last week, NASA's Cassini spacecraft聽聽above the stratosphere on Saturn鈥檚 moon, Titan. It鈥檚 expected to bring temperatures on Titan to as low as minus 238 degrees Fahrenheit.聽The data was collected by , which has instruments that can 鈥渟ee鈥� in thermal wavelengths invisible to the human eye and 鈥渇eel鈥� its way through magnetic fields and tiny dust particles.
Titan鈥檚 winter season typically lasts about 7.5 Earth calendar years. But according to researchers, the new ice cloud will make the winter season even longer. The cloud, detected by Cassini鈥檚 infrared instrument, is estimated to be hovering nearly 60 miles lower than the last observed cloud found in 2012. According to NASA, Titan will still be enveloped in winter even after Cassini鈥檚 mission finishes in 2017.
鈥淲hen we looked at the infrared data, this ice cloud stood out ,鈥� said Carrie Anderson of NASA鈥檚 Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. 鈥淚t practically smacked us in the face.鈥�
Before the snow cloud was discovered, Titan's southern hemisphere was showing signs of transitioning from fall to winter.聽
Aside from Earth, Titan is the only known world in the solar system to have a stable liquid on its surface 鈥� its atmosphere consists of a thick, nitrogen base and its seas are made of ethane and methane.
Out of Saturn's 62 known moons, Titan is one of the planet's most fascinating. Many scientists have said that it is one of the solar system鈥檚 鈥� though not very likely to produce organisms like those that have evolved on Earth.聽
The new discovery of the ice cloud revealed a smog-like formation of hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen compounds. Its composition was not unlike the cloud found in 2012, but its characteristics were different enough to lead scientists to believe it was a brand-new cloud and not an evolved form of the last one.
鈥淭he opportunity to see the early stages of said Robert Samuelson, a Goddard researcher working with Anderson. 鈥淓verything we are finding at the south pole tells us that the onset of southern winter is much more severe than the late stages of Titan鈥檚 northern winter.鈥�
