This is kind of cool. Astronomers using the Gemini and Keck observatories on Mauna Kea, Hawai’i have spotted clouds in the atmosphere of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. This isn’t the first time clouds have been found; astronomers have also seen them at Titan’s south pole and reasoned that they were caused by solar heating of the polar region.

However, these new clouds were spotted in early 2004 at the mid-latitudes of the moon, and are not likely to be caused by solar heating. So, what could be driving the formation of cloudy features in Titan’s nitrogen atmosphere? One explanation could be something happening on the surface that affects the atmosphere, like methane geysers or volcanoes that spout icy slush instead of lava (called cryovolcanism). It’s also possible that these features are being driven by some sort of changes in the global winds that circulate in the upper parts of Titan’s atmospheric blanket. The good news is that astronomers have a reporter “on site” in the form of the Cassini-Huygens mission. It’s likely the spacecraft has also recorded observations of these clouds and we may hear more about them from Cassini mission scientists. Incidentally, those researchers are gearing up for a big event on Christmas Day, 2004: the launch of the Huygens probe toward Titan, and an eventual surface landing sometime in the middle of January. Keep an eye out for more Titan news in the coming days and weeks!