Space
Time Lapse Of Saturn’s Titan Shows Methane Clouds
Brooke James
First Posted: Nov 14, 2016 04:30 AM EST
Days after spacecraft Cassini's data revealed methane-filled canyons hundreds of meters deep on Saturn's moon, Titan, a new time-lapse video revealed that methane clouds also form, move and fade over its surface.
According to Top Examiner, the latest time-lapse video was put together by stringing various images of Titan that were taken by Cassini's narrow-angle camera, with the help of infrared filters that were taken every 20 minutes. The video showed several sets of methane clouds developing and fading over the course of the period on Oct. 29 and Oct. 30, when the moon was monitored by the spacecraft.
These time-lapse movies are not just for show. NASA said in a statement that they actually allow scientists to observe the cloud dynamics as they develop and fade over the surface. The video itself already revealed something unexpected about Titan's clouds. For instance, it is the only other known place in the Solar System that plays a host of liquid seas and lakes on the surface -- but they are definitely more alien than the oceans here on Earth, as noted by Sport Act.
Titan was found to have oceans of methane and ethane, which are usually found in gas forms on our planet. That said, it is incredibly cold out there as well, with the highest temperature recorded at merely -292 degrees Fahrenheit (or -179.6 degrees Celsius). With these temperatures, molecules can take on different states on Titan than they would here on Earth.
Still, despite the new data, Titan's climate was predicted to have more cloud activity in the early northern summer, which means that the observations found by Cassini to help understand Titan's changing seasons is still incomplete. To continue learning more about the giant moon, the mission is expected to continue monitoring throughout the 2017 summer solstice in the northern hemisphere.
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First Posted: Nov 14, 2016 04:30 AM EST
Days after spacecraft Cassini's data revealed methane-filled canyons hundreds of meters deep on Saturn's moon, Titan, a new time-lapse video revealed that methane clouds also form, move and fade over its surface.
According to Top Examiner, the latest time-lapse video was put together by stringing various images of Titan that were taken by Cassini's narrow-angle camera, with the help of infrared filters that were taken every 20 minutes. The video showed several sets of methane clouds developing and fading over the course of the period on Oct. 29 and Oct. 30, when the moon was monitored by the spacecraft.
These time-lapse movies are not just for show. NASA said in a statement that they actually allow scientists to observe the cloud dynamics as they develop and fade over the surface. The video itself already revealed something unexpected about Titan's clouds. For instance, it is the only other known place in the Solar System that plays a host of liquid seas and lakes on the surface -- but they are definitely more alien than the oceans here on Earth, as noted by Sport Act.
Titan was found to have oceans of methane and ethane, which are usually found in gas forms on our planet. That said, it is incredibly cold out there as well, with the highest temperature recorded at merely -292 degrees Fahrenheit (or -179.6 degrees Celsius). With these temperatures, molecules can take on different states on Titan than they would here on Earth.
Still, despite the new data, Titan's climate was predicted to have more cloud activity in the early northern summer, which means that the observations found by Cassini to help understand Titan's changing seasons is still incomplete. To continue learning more about the giant moon, the mission is expected to continue monitoring throughout the 2017 summer solstice in the northern hemisphere.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone