There has been some curious weather going on ’round Saturn’s way over the past few days. First NASA’s Cassini probe made the discovery that Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, is experiencing a significant rain event. Yes, rain. But it’s not raining water (or chocolate) on Titan — it’s raining methane. This shows that Titan, like Earth, has seasonal shifts that change the weather patterns.
Of course these seasons are difficult to see without patience, as Saturn takes twenty-nine years to orbit the Sun.
Speaking of Saturn, take a good look at this image:
See the northern hemisphere of the planet, and that whiteness that makes the planet look like it’s glowing? That’s from the lightning being generated by what is being dubbed as a “Serpent Storm,” a giant storm system that makes its way around 100-degrees of Saturn’s northern hemisphere. This storm has grown to, at times, cover 2/3rds of the hemisphere and has been raging since December 2010.