As spring makes its way to the planet Saturn, Titan, it rains in the deserts of the equator, the second largest moon of the planet. And the rain, unlike what happens on Earth, not water but liquid methane. To discover this unusual weather, a world away from us more than one billion three hundred million kilometers, is an international team of researchers who gives the news in an article published in Science .
At the end of 2010, Cassini's instruments have indeed found that large areas of the surface of Saturn's moon appeared darker than they were before. The best explanation seems to be that these areas have been wet from rains and storms of methane.
The clouds are formed from methane on Titan and are part of a cycle very similar to that of Earth's climate in which methane replacing water. On the moon of Saturn, is in fact the gas to fill the huge lakes on the surface to saturate the clouds in the atmosphere and fall as rain. Although the surface shows traces of the past presence of liquid that probably ran in the equatorial areas of Titan, the liquid hydrocarbons, particularly methane and ethane, were so far only been observed in lakes near the poles.
The vast expanses of sand dunes that now dominate the equatorial regions of the satellite indicate a mainly arid climate. Until now, scientists suspected that the clouds could appear only at equatorial latitudes and the spring makes its way in the northern hemisphere. But they were not sure that the large dry channels reported so far were due
to seasonal rains or testimony of a previous more humid climate.
On 27 September 2010, a storm - the arrow-shaped structure - has appeared in the equatorial regions and in the next month, there was a large structure of clouds. In the following months, researchers have observed rapid changes of the surface. A region of about 500,000 square kilometers situated on the southern edge of the dry hilly area called Belet and other smaller regions in the vicinity quickly became darker.
The scientists concluded that this change in brightness is most likely due to the fact that the surface was washed by the rains of methane. By comparing the image data obtained by other means, have in fact ruled out other possible causes of the phenomenon.
That probe Cassini, a joint mission of NASA and ESA ASI that for almost seven years orbiting Saturn and its moons. INAF is involved in the mission with the use of scientific data spectrometer VIMS, an instrument of the probe. ( gg )
At the end of 2010, Cassini's instruments have indeed found that large areas of the surface of Saturn's moon appeared darker than they were before. The best explanation seems to be that these areas have been wet from rains and storms of methane.
The clouds are formed from methane on Titan and are part of a cycle very similar to that of Earth's climate in which methane replacing water. On the moon of Saturn, is in fact the gas to fill the huge lakes on the surface to saturate the clouds in the atmosphere and fall as rain. Although the surface shows traces of the past presence of liquid that probably ran in the equatorial areas of Titan, the liquid hydrocarbons, particularly methane and ethane, were so far only been observed in lakes near the poles.
The vast expanses of sand dunes that now dominate the equatorial regions of the satellite indicate a mainly arid climate. Until now, scientists suspected that the clouds could appear only at equatorial latitudes and the spring makes its way in the northern hemisphere. But they were not sure that the large dry channels reported so far were due
to seasonal rains or testimony of a previous more humid climate.
On 27 September 2010, a storm - the arrow-shaped structure - has appeared in the equatorial regions and in the next month, there was a large structure of clouds. In the following months, researchers have observed rapid changes of the surface. A region of about 500,000 square kilometers situated on the southern edge of the dry hilly area called Belet and other smaller regions in the vicinity quickly became darker.
The scientists concluded that this change in brightness is most likely due to the fact that the surface was washed by the rains of methane. By comparing the image data obtained by other means, have in fact ruled out other possible causes of the phenomenon.
That probe Cassini, a joint mission of NASA and ESA ASI that for almost seven years orbiting Saturn and its moons. INAF is involved in the mission with the use of scientific data spectrometer VIMS, an instrument of the probe. ( gg )
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