Titan’s Impossible Cloud

The Cassini spacecraft has allowed researchers to gain more knowledge about Saturn’s moon, Titan, than ever before. What has been puzzling them of late is the impossible cloud made up of dicyanoacetylene which is a carbon and nitrogen compound. This is the compound which gives Titan it’s hazy, brownish-orange atmosphere. The cloud is not unique for it’s looks but for it’s sudden appearance.

Regular condensation of the compound to form the cloud was not possible as the dicyanoacetylene available was less than one percent in the cloud. This leads the researchers to debate that the process of cloud formation on Titan is different from the process seen on Earth. The atmosphere on Titan is extremely dry. This fact has been confirmed by observations made on data obtained from both Voyager as well as Cassini.

If the atmosphere is so dry, how does the icy cloud form? If there is no process of condensation, given the lack of moisture, what makes the impossible cloud appear in Titan’s stratosphere? The science project study is uncovering a whole different process of cloud formation on the surface of Saturn’s moon. The theory currently in existence says that the clouds are formed on the poles due to global circulation patterns of the warmer winds.