Summer Announcement: Methane Storm
2006/07/27 Rementeria Argote, Nagore - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa
Titan, like the Earth, has structures like river basins, lakes, etc., apparently dry. Why? It is due to summer methane storms. This is the explanation given by at least two researchers from the University of the Basque Country in the journal Nature, Ricardo West and Agustín Sánchez Lavega.
These two researchers work in the Group of Planetary Sciences of the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao and since the Cassini-Huygens probe arrived in the vicinity of Saturn, they have analysed the data on the planet and Titan, its most known satellite.
It is calculated that the bright clouds seen on Titan are formed by drops of methane. It is now summer in the South Pole of the satellite, and that somewhat higher temperature brings energy to break the storm. Therefore, it seems that the methane of Titan fulfills the same function as water on Earth, that is, as the Earth has the cycle of water, Titan has the cycle of methane.
Photo: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.
