NASA's Cassini spacecraft recently captured something fascinating on Saturn's largest moon - rain showers. However, Titan's rain consisted of liquid methane. While not quite the same content as rain here on earth, it still represents the first example of rain outside of our planet. And while we did not directly see the rain, what scientists noticed was a dark spot left behind by a passing cloud. This is about as close as we will get without actually being on the surface. Titan is said to hold hundreds of times more hydrocarbons than earth, with methane lakes the size of our Great Lakes (though you would not want to go for a swim with temperatures at about -297°F).
Sunday, March 27
Something New: Rain Storms on Titan
NASA's Cassini spacecraft recently captured something fascinating on Saturn's largest moon - rain showers. However, Titan's rain consisted of liquid methane. While not quite the same content as rain here on earth, it still represents the first example of rain outside of our planet. And while we did not directly see the rain, what scientists noticed was a dark spot left behind by a passing cloud. This is about as close as we will get without actually being on the surface. Titan is said to hold hundreds of times more hydrocarbons than earth, with methane lakes the size of our Great Lakes (though you would not want to go for a swim with temperatures at about -297°F).