Titan twisters? 'Dust devils' may be swirling on Saturn's largest moon
By
Chelsea Gohd
Published Apr 22, 2020 7:12 PM EDT
Dust devils could be swirling around on Saturn's huge moon Titan, a new study reports.
If these dry whirlwinds do indeed whip across Titan's surface, they may be the primary movers of dust on the far-off world.
Titan might, therefore, be more Mars-like than previously thought study lead author Brian Jackson, a planetary scientist at Boise State University in Idaho, said in a statement.
Titan's surface is difficult to see through the thick haze of its atmosphere. Scientists suspect the moon may have dust devils, just like Earth and Mars. (Image: © NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
"Mars' atmosphere is really, really dusty, and dust plays an important role in the climate," Jackson said. "Dust devils are probably, if not the dominant mechanism, one of the most important mechanisms for lofting the dust."
Titan's atmosphere is one and a half times the density of our planet's air and doesn't seem to host huge, gusty winds, Jackson said.
"It's just this enormous, puffy atmosphere," he said."When you've got that much air, it's hard to get it churning. So, you just don't usually get big winds on the surface of Titan so far as we know."
NASA announced Wednesday about the discovery of "an Earth-size exoplanet orbiting in its star's habitable zone."
Therefore," unless there is a big storm rolling through, there's probably not that much wind, and so dust devils may be one of the main dust transport mechanisms on Titan — if they exist," Jackson said.
He and his colleagues applied meteorological models to 2005 Titan data gathered by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which observed the moon repeatedly during its tour of the Saturn system from 2004 to 2017.
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News / Astronomy
Titan twisters? 'Dust devils' may be swirling on Saturn's largest moon
By Chelsea Gohd
Published Apr 22, 2020 7:12 PM EDT
Partner Content
Dust devils could be swirling around on Saturn's huge moon Titan, a new study reports.
If these dry whirlwinds do indeed whip across Titan's surface, they may be the primary movers of dust on the far-off world.
Titan might, therefore, be more Mars-like than previously thought study lead author Brian Jackson, a planetary scientist at Boise State University in Idaho, said in a statement.
Titan's surface is difficult to see through the thick haze of its atmosphere. Scientists suspect the moon may have dust devils, just like Earth and Mars. (Image: © NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
"Mars' atmosphere is really, really dusty, and dust plays an important role in the climate," Jackson said. "Dust devils are probably, if not the dominant mechanism, one of the most important mechanisms for lofting the dust."
Titan's atmosphere is one and a half times the density of our planet's air and doesn't seem to host huge, gusty winds, Jackson said.
"It's just this enormous, puffy atmosphere," he said."When you've got that much air, it's hard to get it churning. So, you just don't usually get big winds on the surface of Titan so far as we know."
NASA announced Wednesday about the discovery of "an Earth-size exoplanet orbiting in its star's habitable zone."
Therefore," unless there is a big storm rolling through, there's probably not that much wind, and so dust devils may be one of the main dust transport mechanisms on Titan — if they exist," Jackson said.
He and his colleagues applied meteorological models to 2005 Titan data gathered by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which observed the moon repeatedly during its tour of the Saturn system from 2004 to 2017.
Click here to continue reading on SPACE.com.
Report a Typo