NASA finds Earth’s cirrus-like ice clouds on Saturn’s moon Titan

Experts at NASA have sighted thin, wispy clouds of ice particles similar to Earth’s cirrus clouds on one of Saturn’s moons, Titan.The findings were made using the Composite Infrared Spectrometer CIRS on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.The clouds are perfectly white, and their presence is the latest clue to the workings of Titan’s intriguing atmosphere and its one-way “cycle” that delivers hydrocarbons and other organic compounds to the ground as precipitation.“This is the first time we have been able to get details about these clouds. Previously, we had a lot of information about the gases in Titan’s atmosphere but not much about the [high-altitude] clouds,” said Robert Samuelson at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.Compared to earlier-found methane and ethane clouds, these are much thinner and located higher in the atmosphere.“They are very tenuous and very easy to miss,” said Carrie Anderson, lead author. ...

via NASA finds Earth’s cirrus-like ice clouds on Saturn’s moon Titan | Discovery Online.