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Solar system

Not just a storm in a teacup

Nature volume 514, pages 40–41 (2014)Cite this article

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The cloud that emerged above the south pole of Saturn's moon Titan in 2012 has been found to consist of hydrogen cyanide particles. This unexpected result prompts fresh thinking about the atmosphere of this satellite. See Letter p.65

HCN is expected to condense in Titan's atmosphere at an altitude of 80 km; indeed, a nearly imperceptible tropical haze layer at this height matches the anticipated effects of HCN condensation4. By contrast, as discussed by de Kok and colleagues, the south polar HCN cloud emerged in the satellite's southern polar winter and resides in a region where, only three months earlier, the Cassini spacecraft's infrared spectrometer measured a temperature of 170 kelvin, which is 45 K too warm for HCN to condense5.

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Figure 1: Titan's south polar cloud.

Space Science Inst./JPL-Caltech/NASA

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Caitlin A. Griffith is in the Department of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 8521-0092, USA.,

    Caitlin A. Griffith

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  1. Caitlin A. Griffith
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Correspondence to Caitlin A. Griffith.

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Griffith, C. Not just a storm in a teacup. Nature 514, 40–41 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/514040a

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