The moon of Saturn Titan also has dust storms

Contrary to what most of us have imagined as children, the planets of our solar system are not all solid rock spheres. Some are completely gaseous, others can be liquid. Their moons are as varied in their composition and behavior. Titan, one of Saturn's moons, is strangely one of the few members of our neighborhood that has similarities to our own Earth. Now scientists may have discovered another similarity. Titan, just like Earth and Mars, can actually have dust storms.

It is quite surprising to learn that the moon of a planet has more in common with the earth than our other planetary brothers and sisters. Of all the moons of the solar system, it is the only one to have a significant amount of atmosphere. And of all the other bodies in our solar system, both planets and moons, it's the only one, besides Earth, that still has stable bodies of surface liquid. Except when the Earth contains water, Titan's tanks are filled with methane and ethane.

Titan also has a seasonal climate, just like the Earth, and there are even storms in the tropics, except that, as mentioned, it is raining methane rather than water. Thus, when the scientists examined infrared images taken by the Cassini probe, they first thought that some rains had appeared near the equator of the Titan. A more in-depth investigation, however, revealed something not surprising but always revealing.

According to an article written by Sébastien Rodriguez and his team at Paris Diderot University in France, these spots were actually dust storms. Such particle storms occur when sunlight interacts with methane to produce organic matter large enough to fall to the surface as organic dust. While a small amount of organic dust would have been "propelled" when the Huygens probe landed on Titan in 2005, these dust storms would imply that the moon has winds strong enough to generate them.

This reinforces Titan's image as a very active moon, unlike other planetary satellites that have been "dead" for a long time. These strong winds could move sand on Titan's surface and shape its dunes. In other words, Titan's surface is still changing and he might have more secrets to reveal in due course.