Scientists Puzzled by Mysterious Motion in Atmosphere of Saturn’s Moon

The researchers have found that the thick and blurry atmosphere that wraps the largest of Saturn, Titan, is behaving in a very strange way.

As detailed in a new paper published in Planetary Science MagazineA team of scientists analyzed the 13 -year -old infrared notes recorded by NASA and the mission of the European Space Agency, Cassini Huygens.

Their results: Joe Titan fluctuates like the gyroscope, as it turns with the seasons of a cycle of about 30 years, instead of rotating in line with its surface.

“The Titan Training behavior in the atmosphere is very strange,” said a major author at the post -PhD University. “It seems that Joe Titan behaves like gyroscope, and settles himself in space.”

This discovery makes the moon, which has already attracted the attention of astronomers to its suspected bodies from the dimensions of the liquid and the planet-its diameter is greater than mercury-a more interesting candidate to take a closer look, because it seems that it has a separate climate system.

Looking at the latest discovery, scientists now face more puzzles around the unusual heavenly body.

“We believe that some events in the past may have removed the atmosphere from the axis of rotation, causing it to be softened,” Wright assumed. “And the most interesting thing, we found that the size of this mile changes with the seasons of Titan.”

“What is confusing is how the tendency is fixed in space, instead of being affected by the sun or Saturn,” added Nick Tiabani, a co -author and world of planets at Bristol University. “This would give us evidence of the cause. Instead, we have a new puzzle on our hands.”

The results can affect the task of the next draft in NASA, which is initially scheduled to start early in 2028, and will witness a huge attempt to dizzy down through the very thick atmosphere of Titan to explore its surface.

Walking will not be in the garden, as he will have to withstand temperatures about -300 Fahrenheit while maintaining itself carried by air with the surface pressure once and a half times on Earth and winds up to 20 times faster than the moon’s rotation.

How the “oscillating” atmosphere on itself can allow scientists to get a better idea of ​​how to keep the dragonflies and the location of the landing.

The new results can also have long -term effects, forcing us to reassess our understanding of the Earth’s atmosphere.

“The fact that the Joe Titan behaves like the top of the separate spinning from its surface raises great questions – not only for Tittan, but to understand weather physics on a larger scale, including on Earth,” said NASA’s co -author Godard Conor Nixon.

As for the opportunities that we will face outside the earth on the surface of Titan, astronomers are not completely optimistic. In a recent study, the scientists concluded that the Titan rivers and liquid methane lakes make them not hosting life as we know. However, they found that a small amount of glyken microbes consumed can remain, in theory, to survive in their surroundings.

More about Titan: Scientists say that Titan is covered with shrapnel of cut satellites