James Webb Telescope Learns Astonishing Things About Saturn's Moon Titan

James Webb Space Telescope recently observed one of the most interesting moons in our solar system, Saturn's largest moon, Titan. What makes Titan of peculiar interest is the fact that this moon has an atmosphere four times denser than Earth's.

Last month, JWST began to observe Titan, which appears orange owing to the presence of nitrogen and methane in its atmosphere. But thick haze also makes it difficult to observe the moon's features.

NASA

Observing Titan's atmosphere

On November 5, JWST spotted a bright cloud in Titan's northern hemisphere, and later detected another cloud in the moon's atmosphere. It's important to note here that James Webb Space Telescope can make observations in infrared light which is invisible to the human eye.

The larger cloud was hovering over Titan's north pole near a region called Kraken Mare which is also home to the largest known liquid sea of methane. Yep, you read that right.?Titan has various liquid bodies on its surface, but these aren't made of water - instead made of liquid ethane and methane.

NASA

"Evolution of clouds on Titan over 30 hours between Nov. 4 and Nov. 6, 2022, as seen by Webb NIRCam (left) and Keck NIRC-2 (right). Titan’s trailing hemisphere seen here is rotating from left (dawn) to right (evening) as seen from Earth and the Sun. Cloud A appears to be rotating into view while Cloud B appears to be either dissipating or moving behind Titan’s limb (around toward the hemisphere facing away from us). Clouds are not long-lasting on Titan or Earth, so those seen on Nov. 4 may not be the same as those seen on Nov. 6. The NIRCam image used the following filters: Blue=F140M (1.40 microns), Green=F150W (1.50 microns), Red=F200W (1.99 microns), Brightness=F210M (2.09 microns). The Keck NIRC-2 image used: Red=He1b (2.06 microns), Green=Kp (2.12 microns), Blue=H2 1-0 (2.13 microns)," NASA wrote, explaining the image above.

Also read:?Astonishing Details Of An Alien Planet's Atmosphere Captured By James Webb

"Detecting clouds is exciting because it validates long-held predictions from computer models about Titan’s climate, that clouds would form readily in the mid-northern hemisphere during its late summertime when the surface is warmed by the Sun," cowrote Conor Nixon, a scientist at NASA and the principal investigator on Webb's observation programme for Titan.

NASA

"Images of Saturn’s moon Titan, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam instrument Nov. 4, 2022. Left: Image using F212N, a 2.12-micron filter sensitive to Titan’s lower atmosphere. The bright spots are prominent clouds in the northern hemisphere. Right: Color composite image using a combination of NIRCam filters: Blue=F140M (1.40 microns), Green=F150W (1.50 microns), Red=F200W (1.99 microns), Brightness=F210M (2.09 microns). Several prominent surface features are labeled: Kraken Mare is thought to be a methane sea; Belet is composed of dark-colored sand dunes; Adiri is a bright albedo feature," NASA wrote, explaining the image above.

The team studying Webb's observations asked colleagues at WM Keck Observatory in Hawaii for analyses and found that the two telescopes had captured seasonal changes on Titan.

Also read:?James Webb Space Telescope Captures Hourglass Shaped Birth Of A Star

There's still more to learn. JWST's Near-Infrared Spectrograph managed to collect data about Titan's lower atmosphere that cannot be observed by on-ground telescopes like Keck. It turns out that Webb has managed to get a peek into Titan's atmosphere and surface that is also unlike the Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn and its moons for 13 years.

What do you think about this new find by James Webb Space Telescope? Let us know in the comments below.?For more in the world of?technology?and?science, keep reading?Indiatimes.com.?

References

Cesari, A. T. (2022b, December 1). Webb, Keck Telescopes Team Up to Track Clouds on Saturn’s Moon Titan – James Webb Space Telescope. https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/12/01/webb-keck-telescopes-team-up-to-track-clouds-on-saturns-moon-titan/

Strickland, A. (2022, December 1). Webb telescope spies clouds beneath the thick haze of Saturn’s moon Titan. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/01/world/webb-telescope-titan-saturn-scn/index.html