NASA’s Cassini orbiter watched bright, feathery clouds of methane moving across the northern regions of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, on May 7, 2017.
This image was taken on May 7, 2017, at a distance of 316,000 miles (508,000 km). The view is an orthographic projection centered on 57 degrees north latitude, 48 degrees west longitude. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.
Titan is the only moon in the Solar System that has a liquid cycle and a dense atmosphere.
Instead of water, liquid hydrocarbons in the form of methane and ethane are present on the moon’s surface, and do form clouds by evaporation and condensation.
As summer approaches in the northern hemisphere Titan, Cassini has been monitoring the giant moon, anticipating an increase in cloud activity at high northern latitudes.
Intriguingly, with the summer solstice just a couple of weeks away, an outburst of multiple clouds appeared at mid-northern latitudes.
These are some of the most intensely bright clouds Cassini has observed on Titan, likely due to high-cloud tops.
This activity also represents the most extensive cloud outburst on Titan since clouds reappeared at northern mid-latitudes in early 2016.
Three methane cloud bands visible in this view: the southern band is located between 30 and 38 degrees north latitude.
Scientists have not spotted many clouds in this latitude range prior this observation.
A fainter, middle band between 44 and 50 degrees north latitude is in a region where cloud bands have been observed fairly regularly over the past year.
A northern band is also seen between 52 and 59 degrees north latitude.
The dark regions at top are Titan’s hydrocarbon lakes and seas.
This image was taken on May 7, 2017, at a distance of 316,000 miles (508,000 km). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.
Two versions of the image are presented here, one with stronger enhancement (first) and one with much softer enhancement (second).
The view was obtained during a non-targeted flyby, during which Cassini passed 303,000 miles (488,000 km) above the moon’s surface.
Although Cassini will have no further close, targeted flybys of Titan, the spacecraft continues to observe the moon and its hazy atmosphere from a distance.
