O.T.: Titan: Galaxy's Worst Weather
I don't usually post astronomy topics here, even though it is many meteorologists' second love (it IS up in the sky after all). Carl sometimes posts astronomy news as well. But I had to post this one, because it relates to extreme weather.
And I think Saturn's moon Titan (seen at right, click here for more info on the photo) has the most extreme weather I've ever heard of. The findings were reported in Nature and picked up by this article at Space.com.
NASA Titan
The Huygens probe "had to descend through a treacherous atmosphere where winds raged up to 270 mph, temperatures dropped as low as -333 degrees Fahrenheit, and lightning was likely."
That's a heck of a Jet Stream.
But what about this lightning?
"The HASI instrument also detected electric activity that is similar to lightning's signature. This was spotted around 37 miles above the moon's surface, which is also the region where the wind speed dropped to near zero."
Fortunately, surface winds were not as bad, "gusting no more than a few feet per second, were observed in the lowest 3 miles of the probe's descent." It was still a bit chilly there: "Temperature at the surface averaged around -289 degrees Fahrenheit."
You can visit the NASA Huygens / Titan page for in-depth information, photos and movies.
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